Andrews – It has not been the easiest season for Lady Wildcats volleyball, but head coach Shanna Mustin still has a goal for her team for however many games they have left. She’s been telling them to have “no surrender” down the stretch, and no game is over until the final point.
After a disappointing first two sets against Murphy, the Lady Wildcats battled to the end in the third set before falling in a sweep (25-7, 25-11, 26-24).
“No matter who’s on the other side of the net, no matter what the score is, it’s like every single point we play like it’s game point,” Mustin said. “I feel like the third set we followed through with that.”
The Lady Bulldogs (18-3 overall, 7-2 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) jumped out to big leads in the first and second sets before cruising, and it looked like set three would follow a similar pattern. They led 16-5 and started to empty more of the bench, and the Lady Wildcats (2-15, 0-9) took advantage.
First it was an 8-2 run to trim the lead to 18-13, and then five more points to tie the match. Murphy head coach Jordan Lovingood put some of her starters back in, but the Lady Wildcats continued to battle and had set point at 24-22. The Lady Bulldogs reeled off four straight points to win the match.
Still, the effort is what Mustin wanted, and embodies the team slogan of “all in” they use to break every huddle during the game. Against Cherokee the previous week, the Lady Braves cruised through the first two sets before having to fight for a 28-26 win in the third set.
“I feel like we come in and a lot of times people take us for granted,” Mustin said. “I really want to use that to our advantage.”
The Lady Wildcats came up short in a three-set loss to Hayesville on Thursday, then fell to Cherokee, 2-0 in the first round of the Big Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament on Monday evening. That loss officially ended Andrews’ playoff chances, as it needed to be higher than No. 31 in the state’s RPI rankings but was ranked 44th as of the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday.