Rolling along after rally win at Heritage, Lady Ads improved to 10-1
BLOUNT COUNTY — It was a winning start for Farragut High School’s volleyball team as it opened district play Thursday night, Sept. 5, on the road at Heritage.
After dropping the first set 25-22, the Lady Admirals regrouped to win the next three sets: 25-20, 25-12 and 25-19.
Farragut, 1-0 in District 4-3A, improved to 10-1 overall.
Lady Admirals head coach Andre Alves was pleased to get the victory on the road against a perennial tough program.
“I was just happy to get out of there with a win,” he said. “It was our first district game against a well-coached team defending their home and playing lights out.”
Alves thought nerves played a role in the loss of the first set.
“We started off losing the serving battle and we played very nervous and tentative in the first set,” he said. “There were too many errors on our side.”
However, from that point forward, “I told them to stay calm, trust the training and just pretend we were in our gym and stop making errors,” Alves said.
“They did that in the second and we won.”
A dominant third set led to a fourth-set close-out. Outside hitter Elsa Morrison — playing her first match in two weeks because of being gone on a trip with the U-18 Women’s National (softball) Team — led the team in kills with 22. Outside hitter Trinity Rye had 21 kills.
Setter Bella Ekeler led in assists with 45, while libero Teagan Williams served five aces. Utility player Loryn Neely had 21 digs; Morrison added 16.
Alves had praise for the Lady Mountaineers.
“I told their coach (Jason Keeble) ‘you need to tell your team they played a beautiful match,’” he said. “What a battle, what a great (match).”
Alves knows the district will be tough, but likes where his team is at this point in the season.
“Feels good at this point,” he said. “I feel like I have a pretty solid championship-caliber team.”
