Murphy – It was Murphy volleyball’s first time playing at home in 10 days, and the Lady Bulldogs were fired up. They had energy from the first serve, dominating Hayesville in a three-set sweep Thursday 25-11, 25-13, 25-17.
“It’s just a special thing to play at home,” Murphy head coach Jordan Lovingood said. “Whenever we play here, we’re comfortable.”
Not only did the Lady Bulldogs look comfortable in their home gym, they played a strong match. The only real bout of poor play came at the start of the third set, which Murphy (5-0 overall, 2-0 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) eventually dug out of to win the match. Hitters Torin Rogers, Olivia Payne and Calista Rumfelt all had good nights, and the back row was there to clean up potential Lady Jackets’ kills and never let their hitters get in a groove.
“It wasn’t just them making mistakes,” Lovingood said. “It was us putting the ball down – that’s what we do, we hit.”
Murphy came out firing, getting five of its first six points in the first set through kills. After Hayesville was able to dictate the match against Andrews two days earlier, the Lady Bulldogs returned the favor. The Lady Jackets had no answer for the power of both Rogers and Payne’s swings, plus had troubles with serve-receive as Murphy had four aces in the first set.
“It’s just a lot of adrenaline and energy that’s working in our favor,” senior libero Cailey Dockery said. “Especially with our student section that’s doing a really good job hyping us up.”
The second set was more of the same. Senior Ashlyn Stroupe started off the set with two aces for the Lady Bulldogs, who rolled from there. Murphy continued to pound the ball into the Hayesville (1-3, 1-1) side without much resistance, getting mostly clean looks.
It wasn’t just the attack was crisp, but senior setter Amber Martin was usually able to pass the ball right where it needed to be to set up the kill.
“It’s funny, hitters get all the credit but at the same time it starts with a good pass,” Lovingood said. “The setters got to give a great set.”
Thanks to two aces from Emma Shook and a kill and two solo blocks from Hallie Johnson, Hayesville scored the first five points in the third set and led 9-4. However, Murphy immediately flipped the script, going on a 12-0 to take control of the set.
The Lady Jackets were able to trim the lead to 19-16 later in the set, but committed three straight errors to give the Lady Bulldogs the breathing room they needed to finish off the match.
“Sometimes we lose focus,” Payne said. “But I’m glad we came out and took care of business.”
Murphy is back in action this Thursday with a home match against Swain County. The Lady Bulldogs were supposed to play undefeated Robbinsville on Tuesday, but Graham County Schools announced Aug. 31 that students will be learning remotely through Monday due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
With so much uncertainty about high school sports at the moment, Lovingood is just hoping her team continues to take advantage of the time they have together.
“They know how special of a team this is,” she said. “They’ve worked so hard, and since they’ve had so much taken away from them in the past, they just come in here, it’s a special group. They love each other. They love to work hard, that’s what we do.”