Senior Night also winning night as BHS volleyball sweeps Central
KNOXVILLE — Bearden High School’s volleyball team came out blazing Monday evening, Aug. 31, after the program honored its seniors, and it looked like it was going to be a short evening.
But Knoxville Central, led by former Farragut head coach Susan Davidson, had other ideas.
Sure, the Lady Bulldogs prevailed in a two-game sweep, but it wasn’t quite as easy as it appeared it was going to be. Bearden captured a 25-11, 26-24 victory over the Lady Bobcats in the BHS gym.
After cruising to an easy victory in the first set against Central (2-7), the Lady Bulldogs darted out to a 9-4 lead in the second game on a service ace by Kate Myers before the Lady Bobcats stormed back and reeled off eight of the next 10 points to take a 12-10 lead.
Central would go on to open a 21-13 lead, then would go up 23-18 and 24-22 before Bearden got another big service run by Myers to close out the set and match for BHS (7-3).
“Our seniors did a great job for us tonight and we have the potential to have a great team this year,” Bearden coach Erin Biddle said. “We’re pretty young.
“We have our three seniors (Mary Tasket, Lizzy Young and Myers), but we have a young roster. I have two freshmen who are making big contributions.”
For the seniors, it was a must-win for Bearden.
“We came together as a team and we just got tired of messing around,” Myers said. “You don’t want to lose on Senior Night.”
Tasket agreed.
“I knew we could pull together,” she said. “I’m just glad that we’re getting to play with all the COVID stuff. “I’m glad I’m getting to have my senior season.”
Young said the Lady Bulldogs tend to play their best when they’re down.
“You just don’t want to lose on Senior Night,” she said. “We’ve been a pretty good comeback team this year. We’re never giving up.”
Davidson said that she thinks Bearden could go a long way in 2020.
“Erin does a great job. She’s great at coaching fundamentals,” Davidson said. “Bearden is a great team and I think it will come down between Bearden and Oak Ridge for the (District 4-AAA) championship.”
