Murphy – After a tough five-set loss at Swain County, Jordan Lovingood was happy to see her team having fun on the court Thursday night against the Lady Wildcats. Murphy had a bounce-back performance, besting Andrews in three sets (25-9, 25-7, 25-12).
“To see them out there getting the job done and enjoying each other’s company is everything,” Lovingood said.
In Bryson City, Murphy cruised to a 25-13 win in the first set, but junior Maddison Seabolt aggravated a lingering ankle injury and did not play the rest of the match. The Lady Devils took the second set, 25-17, then the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 25-13 win in the third set.
Swain jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the fourth set thanks to a good start at the service line. However, Murphy battled back to tie the set before the Lady Devils made the decisive run to take the set, 25-21, and tie the match.
In the fifth set, the Lady Bulldogs had set point with a 14-8 lead, only for Swain County to pull out an improbable 18-16 win to win the match in five sets. It was the Lady Devils’ first win over Murphy since 2015.
The Lady Bulldogs had a big performance from senior Liv Payne early in the match, and fellow senior Riley Dockery in the final sets, but they couldn’t get the final point when it mattered.
“Volleyball is such a sport where you feel comfortable with who you’re playing beside and you get in the habit of that,” Lovingood said. “When one person comes out, we had kids who stepped up huge it just fell unlucky for us Tuesday night.”
Seabolt didn’t play against Andrews, though Murphy’s (7-3 overall, 2-2 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) more inexperienced players looked more comfortable with their roles than against Swain County. The Lady Bulldogs had little trouble with an overmatched Lady Wildcats’ team, hitting with confidence while controlling the entire match. Payne led the way with 12 kills, while Dockery chipped in eight.
“It was so good,” Lovingood said. “Just to see them out there, they just looked like they were having fun and getting the job done. We hit the ball so well tonight.”
For Andrews (1-7, 0-4) it has been tough sledding since a season-opening sweep of Nantahala. They’ve lost every game since and haven’t taken a set yet in conference play. The past week was especially tough, with straight-set losses against Highlands, Robbinsville and Murphy.
“We have two seniors and really one senior that’s had a lot of playing time,” head coach Shanna Mustin said. “So we’re young, and we do lack a lot of the confidence, even though we don’t lack the athletic ability. We’re super athletic, but we just don’t really believe in ourselves yet.”
Mustin has had the kids do confidence resumes outside of practice, making them list what they’re good at while also providing phrases to say when they get down on the match. She’s also put a big emphasis on controlling the controllables.
That includes doing what you can on your side of the net, and keeping the energy and confidence up no matter the score. The work ethic is there, Mustin said. It’s just about being confident that what you do in practice will carry over to the game.
“It’s the best group of girls,” Mustin said. “They have the best character, they work so hard and they really want to do their absolute best. They are a pleasure to be around and a pleasure to coach.”