Hiwassee Dam volleyball outlasts Andrews

    Hiwassee Dam – Rylie and Sydney Payne played on Hiwassee Dam’s varsity on Thursday night to fill in for some teammates who were under the weather.
    It won’t be long before they are here to stay.
    The sophomore sisters made big plays in key moments to back their veteran teammates and repel a serious threat from Andrews for a second time this season. The Lady Eagles pulled out a tough match, 25-20, 15-25, 25-18 and 28-26 to close it out.
    Andrews (2-12) took Hiwassee Dam to five sets earlier in the season at home.
    “All season long, we have struggled with consistency,” Andrews coach Shanna Mustin said. “We would get momentum, do something great, then go back and miss the serve, which is killer in volleyball.”
    The Lady Wildcats controlled much of the play, but a few surges from the home club were too much to stave off. The visitors nearly forced a fifth set, and Andrews was first to 15 points in all four sets prior.
    But Hiwassee Dam showed its resilience all night.
    Trailing by as many as five points in the first set, the Lady eagles caught up, and Rylie Payne got her game going by serving three straight points to make it 22-18. A kill by Ashlyn Weaver put the Lady Eagles on the brink of set point, and they earned the final point on a ball out of bounds.
    Andrews dominated the second set, as senior Abby Hedden took command early with two service winners and an ace on her turn at the back line, building a 15-7 lead. Hiwassee Dam tried to mount a rally, but Kena Grindstaff had a key kill to steal back the momentum, and Hidden finished the set with a sweet winner in the corner.
    “We’re fighting every point now,” Mustin said. “We had a lot of plays where girls were hustling way off the court and got it back into play. We’ve been way more positive and way more intense at the net. Abby Hedden really stepped up and made some smart hits for us.”
    Solid net play from Grindstaff and Lindy Garrett was crucial to pacing the Lady Wildcats. “We’ve been working with our middles and having them be more aggressive and they did that tonight,” Mustin said.
    Andrews built an 18-12 lead in the third set and looked poised to take command for good, thanks to hustle plays by Emma Jones and Brooke Phillips, who went into the bench to save a ball on an eventual Andrews point.
    But Sydney Payne stepped up for her turn to serve after a side out at 18-13, and the Lady Eagles scored 12 straight points on her serve to stun Andrews and take hold of the match.
    “It was a lot of pressure, but I tried to keep and cool and find my spots to keep it going,” Sydney said. “When we started scoring, we started getting more hyped, talking more and getting more enthusiastic and that helped us.”
    In the fourth set, it was the experienced players who stepped up for both squads.
    Hedden and Hiwassee Dam’s Erika Sena exchanged dynamic kills early in the set, and Hedden’s block followed by a kill off an opposing player put Andrews up once again in the middle of the set.
    Chloe Roe responded for the Lady Eagles, though, with a huge dig on a serve and two kills to keep the home team close to the surging Wildcats. Sena made another slick play to tie it at 22-22.
    “Andrews had their momentum going strong, but Chloe and I are aware that we have to step up to the plate and be the biggest hitters on this team when we are asked to, and everyone else did their job,” Sena said.
    Hiwassee Dam got match point at 24-23 when a ball going out was hit by an Andrews player, but the next ball did go out to tie it once again.
    Roe gently lobbed a ball over two net players for the next point, but served into the net to even it again. Garrett served an ace for Andrews, but again the Lady Eagles evened the score.
    Then Rylie Payne got another chance, and made the most of it.
    The sophomore served an ace to put her team on match point again, and the Lady Eagles closed it out on her serve for the win.
    “I was nervous,” Riley said. “But I wasn’t thinking that we were going to lose. This game was really fast and back and forth, but our girls stepped up.”
    The win improved Hiwassee Dam to 8-8 and kept their playoff hopes alive.
    “I’m really proud of them,” senior Erika Sena said of the Payne sisters. “They stepped up and took the positions of those who could not tonight. I think we can make the playoffs, and as a senior I am hoping to go out with a bang, so we are going to keep working.”
    Andrews played well enough to win a big in-county game but fell just short.
    “We have been improving every day, we have to just keep making those steps forward,” Mustin said.
    Sena acknowledged the toughness of the match and gave full respect to the Lady Wildcats for their play.
    “They are an underrated team,” Sena said of Andrews. “Their players and coaches have done a great job.”
    Hiwassee Dam hosted previously top-ranked Robbinsville after the Scout’s press time Tuesday and travels to Hayesville on Thursday.
    Andrews gets road rematches with the two teams it defeated, Nantahala (Tuesday night after press time) and Cherokee (Thursday).