Lady Ads edge BHS 15-13 in 5th game
Sydney Cherney, FHS senior outside hitter, sets.
But for two hours Monday night, Sept. 10, the series returned to its naturally heated state as the Lady Admirals notched a hard-fought comeback 25-15, 23-25, 21-25, 25-15, 15-13 victory over the Lady Bulldogs before a spirited crowd in FHS’s Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium.
“This is what a Bearden-Farragut game is supposed to look like,” Farragut head coach Susan Davidson said after watching her squad overcome a 2-1 game deficit against Bearden. “They’re a really good team and (head) coach (Erin) Biddle does a great job with her team. This is her first year with them. She did a great job at Seymour and she does a great job at Bearden.
“This was a great match for both teams,” she added. “You had a lot of girls in this gym do a lot of great things tonight. We haven’t really had that one natural rival since the TSSAA took Bearden and West out of our district, but tonight, this looked like a rivalry game.”
Farragut (18-7) cruised to
victory in the opening set, then built a 10-3 lead in the second set and appeared poised to make easy work of Bearden.
But the Lady Bulldogs (10-6) had other ideas.
The Lady Admirals opened a 14-9 advantage thanks to four consecutive service points (including two aces) by Samantha Ackermann. Farragut led 21-17 before Bearden took control.
The Lady Bulldogs, trailing 22-21, earned a side-out before Lizzy Young scored three consecutive points (including a pair of aces) to give Bearden a 24-22 lead. The visitors would even the match with the help of a Farragut hitting error.
Bearden opened an 11-6 lead in the third game on an ace by Kate Myers and never relinquished the upper hand.
Farragut recaptured the momentum in the fourth set and forced a fifth game with a lopsided victory.
The fifth set was a roller coaster ride. Knotted at 13, Davidson called a time-out.
The Lady Ads took the lead on a side-out before libero Reese Schroeder scored the winning match point.
Caroline Bower had 24 kills and five blocks for Farragut. “We were down 2-1 and our coach made some changes,” she said. “We worked together and we do well when we work together.”
Biddle was disappointed with the loss, but she couldn’t fault her team’s effort.
“These kids played hard,” she said. “They worked hard and I’m not going to be upset at a loss like this one because they fought hard.”
Cate Hosenfield had 20 kills and five aces for the Lady Bulldogs. Young had seven kills.
“I think we fought hard and we learned that we’re going to play hard on every point,” Young said. “When we see them again, we’ll beat them.”
