Lady Ads avenge regular season loss
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Lady Admiral, libero Hailey Aiken, was very happy to avenge the regular season loss to West. - Tony Christen
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Lady Admiral, 23, Hope Blackiston, defends against Rebels. - Tony Christen
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Lady Admiral, 3, Katherine Cabaniss, puts it over the net to score against the Rebels. - Tony Christen
Monday night opened the four-night District 4-3A Volleyball Tournament, the first two nights being held at Maryville High School.
And, it couldn’t have gone much better for Farragut High School.
The fourth-seeded Lady Admirals swept fifth-seed West High School three sets to none in the double-elimination event. The set scores were 25-19, 25-17, and 25-16. The win avenged the Lady Admirals’ 3-1 loss to the Lady Rebels at home on Sept. 9.
“I think they had a little revenge in mind,” FHS coach Andre Alves said. “I just challenged them ‘guys, just take care of the ball. Make them earn, make good decisions’ … and they did. We won the serving pass better I felt like.”
“I’m really proud of us,” sophomore outside hitter Hope Blackiston said. “We really wanted to come back for our revenge game because we should not have lost the first time we played them.”
Sophomore libero Hailey Aiken said, “It feels really good to get back at them. We made less mistakes so I think that’s a big part of it.”
In the first set, the teams traded points to a 15-14 West lead. From there, it was all FHS. A 6-2 run made it 20-17 Farragut; a 5-2 run then finished off the set.
In the second set, the Lady Admirals raced to a 9-4 lead, only to see the Lady Rebels win eight of the next 11 to knot the set at 12. But as in the first set, FHS took off from there.
Five in a row made it 17-12 FHS; four of the next six put Farragut up 21-14. After two in a row by West to cut it to 21-16, the Lady Admirals won four of the final five points to win it.
Long scoring streaks by both teams characterized the final set. WHS led 10-5, only to see FHS roar back by winning 11 of the next 12. The run included eight in a row, seven of which were served by senior setter Bella Ekeler.
Seven of the next 11 by the Lady Admirals made it 23-15, who then wrapped it up the match three points later.
Strong serving again was a major factor in the match, as was ball movement and setting for kills. Freshman outside hitter Megan Frana led FHS in kills with 15; Blackiston had 13.
Aiken was high in digs with 12. Ekeler had 10 digs along with her game-high 31 assists. Farragut was scheduled to play top-seed William Blount Tuesday night in the winner’s bracket.
“They’re pretty darn good,” Alves said of his team’s next opponent. “I told them we have to play clean. Don’t give the game away.”
