Lady Senators open 2-0
The Norris Middle School Volleyball Team began its 2017 season with two key road wins on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at Jefferson Middle School.
The first match featured the Lady Senators defeating an overmatched Robertsville team 25-2, 25-8.
Leading the way for the Spiking Senators were Leah Freeman with 21 points and Kylie Alvis with 20 points.
The victory celebration was short-lived as a determined Jefferson Lady Eagle team took the court to face off with the defending district and sectional champion Lady Senator Squad.
The first set saw Jefferson jump out to a 10-6 lead. Norris tied the match at 10-10 and briefly led 15-13. The focused Jefferson team then seized control of the set and went on to win 25-19 after several key Lady Senator errors.
The second set with Jefferson looked to be a repeat of the first with Norris dropping behind 13-9 before a torrid 10-point serving run by Erin Cantrell helped grab the lead for NMS 19-13. However, Jefferson was not done and clawed to within one point at 19-18.
After trading points, the Lady Eagles surged ahead 23-21 and were two points from winning the set and the match when Lady Senator Coach Jeff Harshbarger called his final timeout.
It was gut check time for the defending champions and the ladies were up to the task with big kills from NMS hitters Jayce Braden, Sadie Alvis, Emily Varner, Allie Ammons, and a key block by Kylie Alvis.
The Lady Senators closed the set with four straight points, winning 25-23 and tying the match at one set apiece.
The deciding set was all Norris as NMS libero Leah Freeman served five straight points followed by four more points from Kylie Alvis to lead 9-2.
Jefferson called its last time out with Norris leading 12-4 and Jayce Braden serving. The time out did nothing to slow the serving prowess of Braden however as she served up two straight aces to take the Senators to the brink of victory. Down 14-4, Jefferson managed to score three more points before the NMS Lady Senators put the matter to rest winning 15-7.
The win brought the Lady Senators record to 2-0 on the year.
They play next on Saturday, Aug. 26 as they host the Norris Dam Volleyball Tournament at ACHS.
Play begins at 8:30 a.m. and lasts until the evening. Their first home match is Aug. 31 at 4:30 p.m. against Horace Maynard.
