Lady Mavs’ postseason run comes to an end
Anderson County’s Faith Graham blocks the return from the visiting Lady Eagles of Gibbs High School during the Lady Mavericks TSSAA Region Championship match on Tuesday, October 11. The Lady Mavericks beat the Lady Eagles at the neutral site 3-1 and won their fourth consecutive Region 2 AA title. (photo:Tony Cox )
The Lady Mavericks saw their 2022 season come to an end with a four-set loss to Greeneville at ACHS Thursday night.
Anderson County won the first set before falling to the Lady Greene Devils 21-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-12 in the sectional round of state playoffs. The Lady Mavericks finish the campaign with a 27-18 record after winning the District 4-AA Tournament as the No. 2 seed and winning the Region 2-AA Tournament after a runner-up finish in the district regular season finish.
Anderson County dropped a pair of regular-season matches to Gibbs in 2022.
The Lady Mavericks, however bounced back to knockoff the Lady Eagles twice to win both the district and region tournaments.
Despite seeing her team’s campaign come to a close, ACHS coach Jayme Smith was proud of the strides that her young squad made this season.
The Lady Mavericks had just one senior on this season in Anna Kay Smith, the coach’s daughter.
“From where we started this season, we did well,” Coach Smith said.
“Our young players improved and as the season went on, they played really well.
“They just got the big eye (against Greeneville). I felt pretty good after we won that first set and then we had another that we were almost able to pull out and if we would’ve been able to get that one, things might’ve been different.”
The coach took the blame for some of Anderson County’s difficulties in its season finale.
“They substituted a player that we hadn’t accounted for and that was on me,” Coach Smith said.
The coach also noted that Anna Kay Smith closed her final high school season on a high note.
“I thought Anna Kay played well,” Coach Smith said. “She’s our only senior and she was really invested in the match.”