Lady Mavs secure No. 2 seed in District 4-AA tournament
Anderson County will be the No. 2 seed in the coming District 4-AA volleyball tournament.
But the Lady Mavericks aren’t closing the season with easy matches.
They were set to host Bearden and West High Tuesday and will close the season at home with matches against Farragut and Oliver Springs Thursday on Senior Night.
There, ACHS will honor its lone senior, Anna Kay Smith.
“We’re not closing out the season by playing a bunch of cupcakes,” said Lady Mavs Coach Jayme Smith. “We want to play good teams, teams that will make us better for the district tournament.
“We want to play the top teams and we have a lower win-loss record, but you get better when you play the good teams.”
On Thursday, Anderson County (22-15, 6-2 in the district) will look to avenge a five-set loss to the Lady Admirals earlier this season.
Last week, the Lady Mavericks closed out league play with a five-set loss to the Gibbs Lady Eagles, who will be the top seed when the district convenes for its postseason tournament at Anderson County.
ACHS captured the first two sets against Gibbs, but the Lady Eagles (20-6, 8-0) rallied back to capture a 25-27, 24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 15-11 victory in the marathon match.
Despite seeing her team fall, Smith said she was pleased with the Lady Mavericks’ effort against the Lady Eagles.
“I was really proud of them,” she said. “I was really pleased when we won those first two sets. I know the girls really wanted to win and I know they were upset.
“Gibbs is a good team and I don’t want to take anything away from what they’ve done this year. If we play them like we did, we can compete against them and we can win. We’ve got two more shots at them in the district and the region and those are the big ones.”
The Lady Mavericks boasted a balanced SECURE hitting attack against Gibbs. Shelby Kelly led the way with 16 kills. She also had two blocks and 17 digs.
Anna Kay Smith added nine kills and came up with 22 digs. Faith Graham had eight kills and two blocks and Alyssa Meier finished with six kills and posted 15 digs.
Defensively, Gracie Hayes had 10 digs. Setter Jalynn Bullock had a stellar night as she recorded 38 assists and had 20 digs.
The Lady Mavericks opened the week with a three-set sweep against Union County as they toppled the Lady Patriots 25-12, 25-10, 25-13 on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Anna Kay Smith had 11 kills and Kelly added nine. Hayes finished the match with eight service aces.
