Murphy – Murphy’s varsity volleyball team secured the No. 15 seed in the 2A state playoffs and faced No. 18 seed Elkin at home in the first round.
The Lady Bulldogs fought hard and got a 3-2 win Saturday to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 2022.
The Lady Dogs took an early lead in the match by winning the first set 25-21. Elkin came back and tied it 1-1 by winning the second set.
In the second set, Elkin got out to an early 9-6 lead, extending its lead to 19-9 late in the set. The Lady Dogs fought to cut into the lead, but Elkin won the second set 25-18.
Murphy took the early lead in the third set 9-4. The Lady Dogs didn’t relinquish the lead throughout the set and won the fourth set 25-16 to lead 2-1 in the match.
Elkin took early control of the fourth set, fighting off being sent home. Elkin got the lead and maintained it to win 25-14, forcing a tie-breaking fifth set.
The fifth set started back and forth, with neither team leading by more than a few points. Murphy took a 10-6 lead when Elkin called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Elkin closed the gap and tied the set at 11.
Elkin then took a 13-11 lead, but Murphy fought back to tie it at 13. Murphy took a 14-13 lead and were one point away from winning the match.
The Murphy fans got on their feet and loudly cheered. The Lady Dogs scored the winning point to win the set 15-13 and match 3-2 to advance to the second round.
After the match, Lady Bulldogs head coach Nikol Edwards said having experience going to the fifth set during the season helped them get the win. She added that it’s hard to come in and play on a Monday or Saturday. The Lady Dogs came in and got back into their routine, helping them win.
To prepare for their second-round matchup, Edwards said, “There’s quite a few things that we saw today that we need to be able to adjust and work on. So we’ll take the day [Sunday] to recuperate, and we’ll come back Monday and starting working on it.”
The Lady Dogs faced Cornerstone Charter in the second round Tuesday after the Cherokee Scout’s press deadline. Coverage of the match will be in the Oct. 29 edition of the Scout.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Dogs faced Swain County in the first round of the Smoky Mountain Conference tournament.
The Lady Dogs battled, but Swain County got the 3-0 win to advance to the second round. Swain then lost to Hayesville in the second round.