Andrews – If there was one difference in the Sept. 5 volleyball match between Andrews and Murphy, it was No. 14 in black.
Lady Bulldogs senior middle hitter Maddison Seabolt was a force, continuously finding holes in the Andrews defense while making her presence known as a blocker at the net. Whenever Murphy needed a good swing on the ball, Seabolt could be counted on, and Andrews never found an answer in a straight-set sweep for the Lady Bulldogs 25-17, 25-16, 25-15.
“When Maddison’s on, she does a really good job,” Murphy head coach Nikol Edwards said. “We just had to be able to pass the ball so we can get it to her.”
As the Lady Bulldogs (4-2 overall, 2-1 conference) worked through some early communication issues, Seabolt had some well-placed kills to keep Murphy just in front. She started the match with a solo block and kill, then had two more kills in the set to stop potential Andrews (2-6, 0-3) runs.
A 7-1 run that featured three kills and a block from Seabolt gave the Lady Bulldogs some much needed breathing room to take a 17-10 lead. Murphy closed it out from there.
The second set was a bit more of a team effort. The Lady Wildcats led 6-4 after three straight aces from Kiley Donaldson, Murphy answered back with four straight points capped off by a kill from Lailee Holloway to take the lead, then went on an 8-1 run to extend the lead to 16-9.
Down the stretch, the Lady Bulldogs turned to Seabolt again. She had three kills and a service ace in the team’s final seven points, with Murphy also getting aces from Cayla Geer and Holloway to help close out the set.
Andrews did not go down without a fight and led 13-10 in the third set. But that’s when Murphy went back to Seabolt and closed in on a sweep. She had four kills and a solo block in a 10-0 run, then had three more kills before the end of the match.
Though Seabolt was hesitant to give herself credit following the match and she did have plenty of good passes coming her way, she clearly made the most impact of any player on the floor.
“I really train to find the openings,” Seabolt said. “I think that’s something a really good volleyball player can find is find the openings.”
Both Murphy and Andrews are looking for growth throughout this season, but at different levels. For the Lady Bulldogs, it’s about trying to be more consistent and cohesive. Many of the players played together in middle school, but not at the varsity level.
For the Lady Wildcats, it’s just about staying united and not letting one mistake spiral into multiple. Head coach Shanna Mustin said sometimes her team is too hard on themselves, and they’re working on flushing mistakes and moving on to the next play.
The goal is to control what you can control, and only worry about what happens on the other side of the net. Mustin thought things looked better in that regard against Murphy, but her team just couldn’t stop the one player they needed to.
“We came into it knowing we were going to have to have a middle block and we could not stop her,” Mustin said. “But we’re a tiny little scrappy team. They play hard, they hustle, they didn’t quit.”