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Lady Mavs are in Murfreesboro this week for volleyball tournament
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Lady Mavericks outside hitter Jayce Braden (20) passes the ball during Anderson County’s Tuesday night matchup with Northview Academy. The Lady Mavericks won the region tournament and it’s sectional game over fall break and advanced to the state tournament in Murfreesboro. - Tony Cox
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Anderson County libero Leah Freeman (11) makes a backwards pass during the Lady Mavericks’ game against Northview Academy on Tuesday, Oct. 12. The Lady Mavericks won the matchup 3-0. - Tony Cox
The Anderson County Lady Mavericks returned to Murfreesboro this week for the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association state volleyball playoffs.
Tuesday morning they made a big case for a title run in 2021, winning 3-2.
Anderson County beat Northview last week in the Region Tournament to advance to the state.
“Our girls have been calm,” Lady Mav Head Coach Jayme Smith said Monday night. “In the past they’ve been excited and really pumped up to be in the tourrnament. This year they seem more calm. Focused.”
That focus came into evidence Tuesday morning in the first game in the first round of the AA bracket.
Facing the Hume-Fogg High School Blue Knights (31-6), the Lady Mavs (35-11) started strong, but finished even stronger.
They opened with a 25-19 first set win.
Their Nashville-area opponents bounced back with a 25-19 win of their own in the second set.
But the third set saw the Lady Mavs gather momentum. Trailing by as many as four points midway through the set, the Lady Mavs closed to make the Blue Knight work.
The Lady Mavs lost, 26-24, but the tone was set.
Anderson County dominated the next two sets to take a first round win — 25-13 and 15-8 respectivley.
They will face the winner of the East Hamilton (28-2) and Lexington (34-4) match Wednesday (today).
The Lady Mavs had faced Hume-Fogg earlier in the season.
“We played them early and we lost,” Smith said. “But we had two starters out with injuries.”
Smith also noted her Lady Mavs finished the season in strong fashion.
“We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season and the girls are really playing well right now,” she said. “We’ve grown a lot as the year went on.”
The 2021 tourney is double elimination, but the Lady Mavs avoided an early let down and a trip to the losers’ bracket.
“You try to focus on your opponent in front of you,” Smith said. “But you can’t help looking at the whole bracket.
“It’s human nature.”
Smith said her squad is very familiar with East Hamilton (28-5) — a possible second-round opponent.
But she noted another strong team in the tourney is Lawrence County (33-9).
“They’re new (to the tournament) this year,” she said. “And they’ve really been playing good the last couple of weeks.”
Wednesday’s game against either East Hamilton or Lexington is set for another morning start — 9:30.
If the Lady Mavs stay in the winners’ bracket, their Thursday game will be at 2:30 p.m. If they are in the losers’ bracket, they will play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
The championship game for the state tournament is set for 1 p.m. Friday.