Senior night success for Lady Admirals
And for anyone associated with the Lady Admirals’ v-ball program, it was a happy night indeed.
Against District 4-3A foe Lenoir City High School, Farragut was dominant, winning the match three sets to none. The set scores were 25-17, 25-11, and 25-11.
FHS coach Andre Alves was understandably pleased, both for his team and his three seniors.
“I’m just so happy because it was a special night, Senior Night,” Alves said. “(Senior setter) Bella (Ekeler), (right-side hitter) Teagan (Williams), and (outside hitter) AO (Addison Owen). They’ve been here for a long time and they’ve given so much to this program. So happy for them.”
“Really rough night,” Lady Panthers’ coach Tyler Hardin said. “We gotta do the fundamental things right. That’s the biggest thing we struggled with, not being able to bounce back from mistakes.”
Farragut fell behind 9-5 in the first set, but then turned it around, winning 11 of the next 13 points to lead 16-11. LC stayed in it, until FHS won the set’s final six points to close it out.
Five of the those final six were served by libero Hailey Aken. Freshman outside hitter Megan Frana had four kills in the set, to go along with kills and aces from several players.
“Megan had a great game,” Alves said. “She’s a hammer, I love her arm. She hits like a guy so I love that.”
The second and third sets were all Farragut. A 14-4 FHS lead in the second led to an easy cruise to the 25-11 win. Aiken served out the final four points.
FHS opened the third set with four straight points, only to lose the next four. But the Lady Admirals then erupted, winning five in a row – and 11 of 13 – to take control of the set.
They closed out the set winning seven of the final nine points, three of which were kills by Frana.
“Harder matches, I would say, you learn a lot more about yourself as a team but having a match like this occasionally, it’s fun to have,” Frana said.
Frana led Farragut with 11 kills while Aiken was high with six aces. Ekeler had 31 assists. Ekeler’s sister Abby – a former UTK v-baller – was in attendance with other family members.
“I love my family so it was really fun having them here,” Ekeler said. “A lot of the girls don’t see the court very often, so it was good they got to play.”
The win gave FHS an 8-7 record overall, 2-3 District. “I like where we’re heading,” said Alves. “And we had fun putting Teagan on the front row. Just a great night.”
