Lady Admirals roll Cats, on to Districts
Any team heading into the postseason wants to enter that part of the season playing well and on a roll.
After its final regular-season match Monday night on the road at Oak Ridge High School, Farragut High School’s volleyball team can confidently say: mission accomplished.
The Lady Admirals swept the Lady Wildcats 3-0 in a non-district match. The set scores were 25-20, 25-13, and 25-16.
FHS coach Andre Alves was happy with his team’s recent play, including the “Rumble at the Rocky Top” in Gatlinburg over the weekend. The Lady Admirals made the semifinals out of 16 teams.
“Really pleased with how clean we’re playing,” Alves said. “We won the serving-pass battle I felt like. We’re making good decisions; we’re playing together.”
“They’re a good team but we didn’t play with any intensity,” ‘Cats’ coach Meghan Ellis said. “We didn’t communicate well; we made too many errors.”
The teams traded points throughout much of the first set. A 6-2 run late in the set gave FHS a 20-13 lead. Five in a row by OR made it 20-18, but Farragut then won five of the last seven points.
The Lady Admirals dominated the second set. They led 13-3, and 20-7 behind strong serving and passing. Libero Haily Aiken’s defense was air-tight, and the front line, which included setter Bella Ekeler, outside hitter Megan Frana and middle hitters Olivia Cope and Katherine Cabaniss, was effective in both kills and blocks.
Cabaniss replaced Reese Goodson, who left the match early with an ankle injury.
The third set was tight until Farragut, down 10-8, blew it open, winning 12 of the next 14 points to make it 20-12. The Lady Admirals easily closed it out from there.
“The chemistry is finally showing,” Alves said. “Good outing, proud of them. Tough one to lose Resse Goodson. Hopefully we’ll have her back. That would really hurt.”
Cabaniss was high for FHS with six kills. Teagan Williams led with eight digs. Ekeler had 17 assists and four aces. Cope and Cabaniss each had two blocks.
“I feel like we’re finally starting to come together, which is perfect because it’s just in time for districts,” said Ekeler, referring to next week’s District Tournament. “I thought we played super-clean, handled the ball well. This gives us some confidence going into the tournament.”
The Lady Admirals enter the District Tournament 10-8, 4-2 District. Their first match, at Maryville High School will be Tuesday at 5 p.m. against West High School.
