Murphy – The Lady Bulldogs’ volleyball team dropped their final two matches to finish the regular season 8-11. The first loss came against Cherokee, the second against Hayesville.
Murphy fell to Cherokee (19-1) 3-0 in their first match on Oct. 8. Murphy came out and built a 2-1 lead in the first set, and the Lady Bulldogs kept the score close until Cherokee pulled away with an 11-7 lead. The Lady Braves went on to nave a 24-12 lead before closing out the set at 25-12.
Murphy had the second set tied up at 2-2 and fought back to tie the score one more time at 4-4, The Lady Dogs were trailing 7-5 when Raegan Curtis got a kill, Wyndsor Caldwell followed up with another kill to tie the score. Cherokee set one out of bounds to give the Lady Dogs an 8-7 lead.
The set stayed close to the 13-point mark. Cherokee built a five-point lead and went on to close out the set 25-16, as they outscored the Lady Dogs 7-3 to close out the set.
Cherokee came out in the third set and built a 5-1 lead, and Murphy could get no closer than a four-point deficit for the rest of the set. Cherokee closed out the set and match with a 25-17 win.
Murphy traveled to Hayesville to take on the Lady Jackets (15-5), falling in three sets. Hayesville jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Murphy came storming back to tie it up when Hayesville was unable to handle a Julia Dockery kill.
Hayesville again built a two point lead, but Murphy came back to take a 6-5 lead, which rocked back and forth until Hayesville pulled away. The Lady Jackets outscored the Lady Bulldogs 7-1 to take a 16-11 lead. The Lady Dogs could get no closer than four as Hayesville won the set 25-18.
Murphy and Hayesville matched each other point for point until Murphy built a 6-3 lead in the second game. With Murphy leading 9-7 Hayesville went on a 3-0 run to take a 10-9 lead. Once again, Murphy build a three-point lead, only to see Hayesville tie the score at 13.
Murphy was hoping the third time would be charm as they built a 19-16 lead. It was not, as Hayesville went on run to tie the score at 20. Hayesville went on to take the lead for good and finished the set 25-23.
The deciding third set Hayesville built a 3-1 lead, and the Lady Bulldogs overtook Hayesville 4-3, and it looked like it would be another close set. With the game tied at 7, Hayesville pulled away with a four-point run to take an 11-7 lead.
Hayesville went on a run and never looked back, as the Jackets outscored Murphy 9-1 to take a 20-8 lead. They would go on to win the set and close out the match with a score of 25-10.
Murphy will play in the Smoky Mountain Conference tournament in Cherokee this week.