Lady Admirals bounce back, three-sets-to-one win over Hawks
Alves challenged team, the team executed
After losing 2-0 to Knoxville Catholic High School the night before, the Lady Admirals went again on the road to face District 4-3A foe Hardin Valley Academy.
The three-sets-to-one win over the Lady Hawks evened FHS’s district record to 3-3, 8-8 overall. FHS coach Andre Alves praised his girls’ growth from one night to the next.
“My challenge to them today was: every ball matters, every pass matters,” Alves said. “And they executed. So I couldn’t be more proud.”
“Farragut’s a really good team; they had a really good game plan,” HVA coach Eric Boden said. “We just couldn’t put the ball away.”
The Lady Hawks led 6-5 in the first set, but a 6-1 run by the Lady Admirals gave them an 11-7 lead. HVA cut it to 13-12, but FHS then won seven of eight points to lead 20-13. The teams then traded points as Farragut won it, 25-17.
Streaky scoring, so common in volleyball, was again quite evident in the second set. Down 8-5, Farragut won nine of 11 to lead 14-10. The Lady Hawks came right back with a 13-4 run to lead 23-18. It appeared the match would be tied at one set each.
“Andre had a talk with us and told how he believes in us and how we can come back,” freshman outside hitter Megan Frana said. “And everyone shifted to ‘we have to win this,’”
Come back FHS did, winning the final seven points to take the set, 25-23. The final six were served by Madelyn Cupferer.
“Seven in a row,” Boden said. “We just couldn’t do something with the ball. We couldn’t side out (win the point while receiving).”
Scoring runs of 6-1, 5-1 and 5-0 helped the Lady Hawks take the third set, 25-21. In the fourth, the Lady Admirals led 13-11 when Bella Ekeler took the serve.
FHS’s senior setter won nine points in a row on her serve, and HVA wouldn’t recover. The match-clinching set score was 25-14.
“We had a game plan,” Alves said. “We passed really well. Bella went on that huge run of nine points. I think we had a breakthrough today.”
Frana led FHS with 12 kills while Hailey Aiken was high in digs with 16. Ekeler had 36 assists.
“If we play clean like we did today, who knows,” Alves said, referencing the upcoming district tournament.
