Murphy – When Murphy and Hayesville met on Aug. 30, the Lady Bulldogs prevailed in a four-set match, with three of the four sets being four points or closer.
Through almost two sets in the rematch on Sept. 28, the Lady Jackets looked to have the upper hand. They were more cohesive, had more energy and the Lady Bulldogs couldn’t string together points.
Hayesville took the first set 28-26, and Murphy scrapped out a second set win before having a somewhat easier time in the final two sets of another four-set win (26-28, 26-24, 25-19, 25-19).
“A couple of mistakes and non-communication in the first two games really kind of set us back,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Jordan Lovingood said. “Once we cleaned that up and started hitting the ball, we were really in our groove.”
Both teams looked best when they were hitting, and Hayesville provided some matchup problems as one of the bigger teams in the conference. Murphy (15-4 overall, 4-2 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) was able to execute better in the later sets, once again led by Liv Payne and Maddison Seabolt, who each finished with 17 kills. Payne also set the tone defensively, flying all over the court to make plays.
“I’m so proud of the way she plays,” Lovingood said of Payne.
“Not only that, she’s just mentally tough on the court. She’s our person out there who’s the voice of reason, and at times we heavily rely on her. She comes through for us most of the time.”
The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t get in a groove early, only scoring three points in a row once in the first set. Hayesville (10-7, 2-4) couldn’t string together points, either, and Murphy still had set point at 25-24 in the set before the Lady Jackets rallied to win it.
Hayesville carried that into the second set, leading 9-4 before Murphy slowly crawled back and took a 15-14 lead. The remainder of the set was back and forth, with the Lady Bulldogs scoring the last two points to take it.
Seabolt gave them the lead with a kill, then an impressive hustle play from Cali Rumfelt got the ball over the net before it was misplayed by a Lady Jacket.
Murphy methodically built the lead over Hayesville in the next set, jumping ahead 20-13. Hayesville had an answer with a 5-1 run before the Lady Bulldogs scored four of the last five points to close out the set.
The Lady Jackets started to tire in the fourth set, and Payne and Seabolt continued to pound the ball into the Hayesville side. Murphy led 23-11 in the set before Lovingood put some reserves in that made the final score closer.
Despite having some key players miss a few games due to minor injuries, the Lady Bulldogs look like they found a good top six against Hayesville in Payne, Seabolt, Rumfelt, setter Addie Johnson and Riley and Julia Dockery. That could help this week, when Murphy hosts Robbinsville (12-5, 5-1) and Swain County (11-6, 3-3), the only two conference teams to beat them this season. The game against the Lady Knights took place after the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday.
“You have to be adaptable to the situation,” Lovingood said. “Whenever it’s time to play, you have to show up to play.”