Murphy – Something felt off in the Murphy High School gym on Sept. 9. The Lady Bulldogs lacked their usual energy and weren’t able to feed off the football players usually in the student section, as they were watching the junior varsity team play Cherokee.
Luckily for Murphy, it was a night where they could afford to be off a bit. The Lady Bulldogs were playing winless Swain County and disposed of the Lady Devils in straight sets (25-16, 25-14, 25-7).
“We haven’t played a game yet this week,” coach Jordan Lovingood said. “So I know it’s hard to kind of get going, but we’re not going to make excuses ever. I told them after game one, you have to be ready and you have to go.”
Murphy (6-0 overall, 3-0 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) was supposed to play Robbinsville on Sept. 7, but that game was rescheduled to today as Graham County schools were on pause due to COVID-19 until Sept. 13. Besides being a little rusty after a week off, the Lady Bulldogs were without senior libero Cailey Dockery.
Dockery, who has committed to play volleyball at Notre Dame, suffered a calf injury in practice. Senior Ashlyn Stroupe, who starts as a defensive specialist, stepped in as the libero.
“She just does whatever you ask her to,” Lovingood said of Stroupe. “(I’m) very proud of her.”
The Lady Bulldogs took Swain’s (0-7, 0-3) best effort in the first set, but it still wasn’t close to enough. The Lady Devils jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Murphy scored the next eight points and didn’t trail again in the set.
The Lady Bulldogs had much better starts to the second and third sets, leading 8-1 in the second and 19-1 in the third while cruising to a sweep. Murphy seemed to get better as the match went on, with the starters looking sharp in the final set before Lovingood emptied the bench.
“The third one we did more things we were capable of,” she said. “The first two sets we missed serves, we weren’t talking, we were doing things we don’t normally to do.”
With the Lady Bulldogs having the match well in hand, Lovingood was able to give playing time to players who usually don’t see the court.
“It’s really exciting to me to get to watch them,” senior setter Amber Martin said. “Because we see them do these things in practice, and it’s just great for everybody else to see what they’re capable of.”
Murphy has two pivotal games this week. The Lady Bulldogs traveled to Andrews on Tuesday, which ended after the Cherokee Scout went to press, and host undefeated Robbinsville today. The Lady Knights are No. 2 in the state in MaxPrep’s 1A rankings.
“It’s a big week, and we’re going to take it one game at a time,” senior middle hitter Torin Rogers said.