Hurdle cleared, FHS v’ball tourney No. 1
Revenge accomplished — and it wasn’t all that close.
Thirty minutes after defeating rival Bearden in four sets in the semifinal, the Lady Admirals dispatched the Lady Red Rebels in the championship match in three sets.
“We served them off the court tonight,” FHS head coach Andre Alves said. “And our blocking was on point. When it counted, we got it.”
The set scores were 25-17, 25-23 and 25-15.
“Feels so good; we’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” senior outside hitter Trinity Rye said. “We were sick of losing (to them) and we came in with the mindset that we weren’t gonna lose.”
The Lady Admirals were never in danger of losing. In the first set, Farragut dominated to a 24-10 lead. Only a seven-point run at that point by MHS made the set semi-close. An errant serve by Maryville finished the set.
The second set was back and forth throughout. FHS led 22-18, but four straight by the Lady Red Rebs tied it at 22.
Two points later, an ace by senior outside hitter Elsa Morrison made it 24-22. At 24-23, a kill by Rye closed out the set.
“Elsa refused to lose,” Alves said. “She said ‘hop on my back and we’re gonna win this.’ They just wanted it more.”
The Lady Admirals jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the third set, and the teams then traded points equally to a 19-14 FHS lead.
A 6-1 finish by Farragut gave the girls in blue and gray the District Tournament title.
Lady Admiral team leaders included Rye with 20 kills and Morrison with 14. Loryn Neely had 12 digs while Morrison added nine. Setter Bella Ekeler, named Tournament MVP, led with 31 assists.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Ekeler said. “We wanted it so bad, and we wanted to prove that we can beat them. We got them when it mattered.”
Morrison and Rye joined Ekeler on the All-Tournament Team.
“Big confidence booster (tonight),” Alves said. “These seniors wanted it really bad. Feeling pretty good about (the region tournament).”
The Lady Admirals advanced to the Region 2-AAA Tournament where they hosted Oak Ridge in the semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 15 (after deadline). The winner advanced to the region title match later that night at FHS, while earning a Sectional berth Thursday, Oct. 17. The season is over for all region semifinal losers.
Photo courtesy of Jack Tate/FHS director of Sports Information
