Andrews – The Lady Wildcats’ varsity volleyball team had a busy week as they played their first three-game week of the season.
They started their week with two road games, traveling to Cherokee and Highlands. They closed out the week by hosting Highlands in their home opener.
Andrews (3-1) started the week with an away game against Cherokee (4-1). The Lady Wildcats faced the Lady Braves and lost 3-0 to the defending Big Smoky Mountain Conference champs on Aug. 18.
The first set was the closest of the match, with Cherokee narrowly winning 25-21 to lead 1-0 through the first set.
The second set was close, but Cherokee still won 25-19 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Cherokee closed out the match in the third set by winning 25-12 to win the match 3-0.
Chanteah Rattler and Juliet Holloway led the team in aces with three each. Drea Cutshaw had two aces, while Mady Queen had one.
Leading the team in kills was Holloway with seven. Rattler had two kills, and Alexis Beasley and Mattie Mustin had one each.
Kaiya Ellis led the team in assists with six. Queen had five assists, while Cutshaw had one.
Queen led the team in digs with nine. Holloway had eight digs, Ratter had six and Lauren White had five. Riley Thompson and Ellis had four digs each, Cutshaw had three and Molly Conti had two. Beasley and Mustin had one dig each.
The next day, the Lady Wildcats hit the road for the third straight time this season as they faced Highlands (0-7) on Aug. 19.
The Highlanders took an early lead and won the first set 25-14 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The second set was flipped, and Andrews tied the match by winning it 25-15.
The game got close in the third set, but Highlands won 25-21 to lead 2-1 in the match. Andrews wasn’t going to go down easy, and the Lady Wildcats battled to win the fourth set 25-20 to force a fifth set.
Andrews won the fifth set 15-10 to win the match 3-2 for its second win of the season.
Holloway led the team in aces with six against Highlands. Ellis had three aces, Rattler and White had two, and Cutshaw had one.
It was also a huge night up front for Holloway, who led the team with 22 kills. Rattler had eight kills, while Cutshaw and Queen had four each. Mustin and Ellis had two kills, while Lauren Cochran had one.
Also up front, Holloway and Mustin had two blocks each. Ellis led the team in assists with 27, while Cutshaw had 13 assists and Mustin had one.
Holloway also led the team in digs with 32. Not far behind was Queen with 28 and Cutshaw with 18 digs. Ellis, Rattler and White had 10 each. Cochran and Thompson had three digs each, while Mustin had one.
On Thursday, the Lady Wildcats and Highlanders faced off again, this time in The Valley. Fans and students packed the gym and were loud from the first serve to the final point.
It was back-and-forth start to the first set, but Andrews took a 14-11 lead that prompted a Highlands timeout. The Lady Wildcats then pulled away and won the first set 25-16.
Andrews kept its momentum going and took an early 8-4 lead in the second set. Despite leading early, Highlands fought back and tied it at 11.
Both teams exchanged leads and battled late into the set, but Highlands prevailed and won the second set 26-24 to tie the match at one each.
They continued to battle in the third set with multiple ties and lead changes. Late in the set they tied at 22, but Highlands got a late burst and won the set 25-22 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
With the match on the line, the Wildcats weren’t going to go down easy. They fought through the fourth set.
Despite an early lead in the fourth set, Highlands fought back to tie the match at 16 points each. They tied again at 19 before the Lady Cats made a late push to win the set 25-21 to force a fifth set.
For the second match in a row, Andrews and Highlands headed to a fifth set. Once again, it was the same result.
It was back and forth early in the final set. The Lady Cats began to pull away, leading to multiple Highlands timeouts.
Late in the set, Andrews called a timeout. The Lady Wildcats took a late timeout, and Lady Wildcats head coach Shanna Mustin’s message to the team during the timeout was to take a deep breath, that they had the game under control with only one point away from the win.
The Lady Cats went on to win the fifth set 15-11 and take the match 3-2.
Mustin said it was good to win their first home game, and it helped having loud fans in attendance.
“Home games are always really fun. We have a super loud gym, a hot gym and we use that to our advantage. Of course, we’ve got the student section and the crowd behind us, so it definitely motivates us. A first home win, it feels pretty good and I think it sets the tone for the rest of our season,” she said.
Mustin said they adjusted for Thursday’s match based on what they saw when they played them earlier in the week.
“Their libero and defense, they’re so scrappy and we knew that every normal shot they were getting up, so we really worked on placing our hits a little bit more, like down the line. Just those harder to get hits so that we could throw their defense off,” she said.
To prepare for their week of Big Smoky Mountain Conference matchups, she said they will watch film on Rosman and prepare for Robbinsville.
“We have to watch some film just to know something about Rosman. Robbinsville we saw in a scrimmage, so we have a pretty good idea who we need to watch out for and how to prepare for that one,” Mustin said.
“Our girls, the hustle and heart they have, I feel like we have a fight in us this year that we hadn’t seen in a while, so it’s exciting.”
Up next
The Lady Wildcats will host Robbinsville (3-1) in their next conference match at 6 p.m. Thursday.
On Tuesday, Sept. 2, the Lady Wildcats will travel to Cashiers to take on Blue Ridge Early College (1-4) at 5 p.m.
Andrews is undefeated against Little Smoky teams so far this season.