‘No lead is safe’, as Admirals fall to Spartans
The Lady Admirals won the first two sets and seemed to be cruising to an easy best-of-five win. Three sets later – all won by Webb – FHS had lost the match three sets to two. Late leads in both the fourth and fifth sets slipped away.
Lady Admirals’ coach Andre Alves didn’t hide his disappointment about his squad’s inability to hold its lead.
“Very, very disappointing,” he said. “We took our foot off the gas. They’re a very good opponent; we just took them for granted (after the first two sets) and we never recovered.”
“We’re a young group and we’re finding ways to work through hard things,” Lady Spartans coach Nicklin Hames said. “I thought they stepped it up and found a way to fight.”
FHS built a 12-2 lead in the first set. Each team then had runs of several points, but when Farragut won five of the last seven, it won the set 25-16 and led 1-0.
Farragut again built a lead in the second set, 10-5. A late 5-0 run by Webb cut Farragut’s lead to 20-18. Five of the last seven by FHS gave the Lady Admirals a 25-20 second set, and a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Spartans led 8-3 early in set number three and finished with a six to three run to take the set 25-20. A 9-4 stretch in mid-set kept Farragut in it.
Webb started the fourth set with a 6-1 run, followed by Farragut’s identical run to a 7-all tie. The teams traded points to a 22-20 FHS lead. The Lady Admirals were on the verge of the set and the match.
The Lady Spartans finished with six of the last eight to take the set 26-24 and knot the match at two sets apiece.
FHS fell behind 7-4 in the final set but ran off five straight to lead 9-7. Leading 12-9, the win was again at hand. Six in a row by Webb closed it out, 15-12.
“We just couldn’t finish,” Albes said. “We hit way too many balls out of bounds. You take yourself out of the game when you do that.”
Reese Goodson had 15 kills for the Lady Admirals. Megan Frana led the team with five aces. Hailey Aiken led with 23 digs; and Bella Ekeler was high with 31 assists.
“We lost our mojo,” Lady Admirals’ middle hitter Olivia Cope said. “We tried firing up. I think we were just tired.”
