Hiwassee Dam – The Lady Eagles celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Night with a big 3-0 Little Smoky Mountain Conference victory against Highlands.
Hiwassee Dam took to the court in matching pink socks and pink ribbon hair ties as they took on conference opponents Highlands on Thursday.
The Lady Eagles (6-12) started the match in the right way on an important night against the Lady Highlanders (5-13). They got off to a big lead as senior Olivia McNabb got the scoring going right out of the gate.
The Lady Eagles led 14-6 when Highlands called its first timeout. Strong serves from Avery McNabb helped set up scoring opportunities that the Lady Eagles took advantage of en route to winning the first set 25-16.
They kept rolling into the second set. More strong serves from the Lady Eagles helped them take the lead early, but Highlands was right behind them. The Highlanders then tied to second set at 10.
Highlands kept the match within in one point, then tied again at 12. The Lady Eagles scored five consecutive points, which prompted a Highlanders’ timeout.
The Lady Eagles came out of the timeout and scored eight straight points to lead 20-12. Highlands scored a few points down the stretch, but could not catch the Lady Eagles as they won the second set 25-17 to take a two-set advantage.
The third set started close again and stayed close. Hiwassee Dam led by four halfway through the set, but Highlands closed the gap to tie it up, then they took a short-lived lead. Hiwassee Dam battled to the end and won the third set 25-20 to close out the match and get the conference win.
After Thursday’s match, Lady Eagles head coach Angie Davis said how much it meant to her to get the win on Breast Cancer Awareness Night.
“It was a good win because my mom just finished up with breast cancer at the beginning of volleyball season, so that meant a lot to me,” Davis said. “It was a good conference win and they came out swinging and we were missing a player last time we were playing them and that showed. We were all back and ready.”
Davis mentioned two players who stood out in the match, saying, “Definitely Olivia McNabb. She’s one you can’t play without. Two of my strongest players are her and Brinkley Payne. They’re our backbone.”
As they head down the stretch of the regular season, Davis said they’ll keep practicing and playing their game.
“Just keep working on things we do in practice. They seem to be responding pretty well to what we’re going over, but I believe as long as they keep playing their game, they’ll be fine,” Davis said.
The Lady Eagles play their final regular season game on the road at Blue Ridge Early College at 6 p.m. Thursday, then they will return to Hiwassee Dam to face them again at 6 p.m. Monday for Senior Night.