Lady Maverick Volleyball keeps winning
The Anderson County Lady Mavericks Volleyball Team defeated Union County High School in straight sets last Tuesday night and in the process, won its 26th regular-season district championship in 35 years.
Also making this streak more impressive is the fact that for the 24th time the Lady Mavericks won the district championship without dropping a single set, let alone a match, a streak unequaled in the State of Tennessee.
Since opening in 1982 the Anderson County Lady Mavericks Volleyball Team has been a perennial power. To put things into perspective, unlike football and basketball where multiple teams from the district advance to the regional tournament, in girls’ volleyball only the top two teams from the district advance.
The Lady Mavericks have only failed to advance to the regional championships on five occasions since the school opened. Additionally, prior to 1988, volleyball was not split in the classifications like the other sports. A, AA, AAA, and private schools all played in the same district and region as opposed to having six classifications for football and having private schools separated from public schools.
This is the fourth regular-season district championship that the Lady Mavericks have won in the past six seasons, three of them occurring while still in AAA. In 2012, 2013, and 2015, while in AAA, the Lady Mavericks also won the regular-season district championship and in each year swept the regular-season going undefeated in matches and in games.
Long-time assistant coach Randi Sewall credits the Lady Mavericks’ success to having a winning tradition.
“All of our coaches are Anderson County alumni. We understand the tradition that was established back in the early eighties, and the girls know what is expected from them each time they take the court. No other AA team has won as many district championships as we have, and no school in the state had produced more All-State players or college scholarship participants.”
Lady Mavericks’ Head Coach Jayme Smith was a former captain and All-State player at ACHS, and was an assistant coach on the 1999 State Championship team before being recruited to be the head coach at Oak Ridge High School. When the Anderson County job opened back up, administrators reached out to Coach Smith, one of their own, to keep the tradition alive.
Long-time Lady Mavericks’ coach Dail Cantrell credits much of this season’s success to Coach Smith’s efforts.
“We are a young team. In the history of our school only four players have ever started as freshmen. This year Coach Smith is starting two freshmen outside hitters and a freshman setter, which is unheard of at the level we play at. For the last eight years we were in AAA, and she emphasized that it did not matter what classification we were in because our expectation was to win championships.”
The Lady Mavericks host Knox Central for Senior Night on Thursday. They will host the district tournament next Monday and Tuesday.