Region champ Lady Admirals barely short of state bid
Students and a few parents join Concord Christian School volleyball players, coaches and other team and school officials to celebrate after the Lady Lions blanked Franklin Road Academy 3-0 in substate play at CCS Friday, Oct. 18, to earn the program’s fifth straight TSSAA state tourney trip, which is this week in Murfreesboro.
And true to that challenge, the Lady Admirals jumped ahead 2-games-to-1 against visiting Region 1-AAA runner-up Daniel Boone during the Section 1 win-or-go-home showdown in FHS’s Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium Thursday evening, Oct. 17.
But the Lady Pioneers rallied to even things 2-2, then held off a Farragut rally — with FHS trailing 14-11 before puling to within 14-13 — to win the match 15-13 in the deciding game.
“It’s really tough, but no one thought we would make it this far,” said Lauren Loveday, FHS standout outside hitter, a senior.
About the team’s post-season surge, “We’ve had a lot of fight this season. We have a lot of players who don’t give up,” Loveday added, as the Lady Ads’ season ends with a final 22-17 record.
The team’s only other senior, middle hitter Alexis Cosey, said with so much youth on this year’s team, “Everyone has improved so much throughout the season.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of how they played,” FHS head coach Susan Davidson said. “... On any given night, if we had capitalized on a few other different situations, we come out on top.”
Individually, “Kate Priest played super smart as far as her placement,” Davidson said. “Lauren Loveday, our senior, has done a great job for us all year. She’s a spark when she comes in.
“I’m really proud of our sophomore, Ellie Ackermann,” she added about her middle hitter. “She played a phenomenal middle.”
