Though FHS in straight sets, HVA hangs tough
But just when the Lady Ads looked for a relatively easy final set win to sweep, HVA rallied late and took the lead.
Farragut, however won 26-24 in that deciding game, sweeping the match (also 25-19, 25-22) Thursday, Aug. 26, and improving to 5-2 overall, 1-0 in district entering this week. The Lady Hawks fell to 6-2, 0-1.
‘They are a good team, but I think we all really came together,” said Ellie Ackermann, FHS senior middle hitter. “I thought our blocking was really good, and our serving — we just, like, killed them on serves, so I think that was a big part of the game.”
“I think Hardin Valley is a really strong team, they’re pretty strong all across the board,” Lady Ads outside hitter Kate Priest said. “It was a fight, even though we won three sets to zero.
“I think, throughout everything, our team just kind of stayed together and used our chemistry as something that just led us all way through the game,” she added.
“I thought the girls did really well. We’ve been focusing on controlling our passes and getting them in front of the 10-foot-line,” FHS head coach Jo Madden said. “I thought our hitting was on time; it was really on target, and the girls placed it well.”
Individually, “Kate Priest was really on tonight. No matter where we gave her the ball, she knew how to put it away,” the coach said. “We knew we needed her coming into this game to finish it. And we had our big middle Ellie coming in, and we had Meg Frank (senior middle hitter) coming in right behind her just putting the ball down.”
“We just need to be mentally more tough,” HVA head coach Joy Waller said, praising the efforts of Emilia Hoppe and libero Kami Livingston. “Our outsides (hitters) did really well, too,” she added about Tinsley Brown and Keely Stillwill.”
