Lady Blues bi-district champions after win over Sweetwater

Perhaps it was the adrenaline of playing for a bi-district championship, perhaps it was the energy and noise from the crowd or perhaps it was simply a culmination of all the hard work they put in throughout the regular season.

Whatever the reason, the Graham Lady Blues came out, and apart from one tough set, absolutely dominated the Sweetwater Lady Mustangs and earned the title of Bi-District Champions. The Lady Blues won Monday, Oct. 30 in four sets by scores of 25-4, 25-9, 23-25 and 25-11.

As evidenced by the set scores, Graham was in complete control right out of the gate and in the first two sets. Outscoring your opponent 50-13 through two sets is quite the accomplishment and the Lady Blues made things look easy while doing so.

Graham’s offense looked like a well-oiled machine at the start of the game. The Lady Blues received the ball well, set up their hitters well and terminated at a high rate. Junior Emilee Gordy set the tone on the very first ball with a powerful kill to kick off the game which was followed by a similarly powerful kill from senior Olga Morales and back-to-back service aces from sophomore Tara Dawson.

Gordy and Morales led a lot of the scoring in the first set, combined with a few more aces, these coming from junior Camden Thorne. The Lady Blues opened up a 19-4 lead after Sweetwater hit a ball long out of bounds.

After that, Morales toed the service line and dished out four aces on the next six balls in play. The only ones that Sweetwater managed to do something with ended in errors and Graham took the first set 25-4.

Graham kept the pressure up heading into the second set as juniors Braylee Mayes and Lillian Noble began to get into the swing of things. They both recorded multiple kills in the set in addition to what everyone else continued to do on offense. Sweetwater had no answer and the few points the Lady Mustangs scored often came on Graham errors.

With another commanding lead near the end of the second set, head coach Marci Faulk was able to sub in a few other players that don’t normally see as much time on the court. Junior Annemarie McHenry came in and recorded a kill for Graham’s 24th point and a few balls later Morales finished the set off with another kill to take it 25-9.

“It's always exciting to win in the playoffs, but the way we played in that first and second set, I loved watching them have so much fun. All of them looked like they were having the time of their life,” Faulk said. “That's why I think they were relaxed, they were confident, they were swinging on the ball. We had solid passes that led to the awesome swings, the aggressive swings; it's very rewarding to see them have fun while they're being successful.”

The Lady Blues ran into some trouble in the third set. The Lady Mustangs, trying to keep their season alive any way possible, looked like a completely different team. They played with more confidence and seemed to catch Graham by surprise.

Sweetwater began having more success with their kills as they found holes in Graham’s defense. Meanwhile, their blockers met the Lady Blues’ hitters at the net and made things more difficult for Graham’s offense.

The two teams went back and forth for some time and were tied 23-23 after an ace from Noble that just stayed in the back line. But a couple of Lady Blues errors later, Sweetwater extended the match with the 25-23 set three win.

“I told (my team) in the playoffs in that third set that (opposing) team’s fighting to stay alive. They know if they throw in the towel, their season's over,” Faulk said about Sweetwater’s third-set performance. “That's usually when teams will push the hardest is when they know it's on the line. And so I just said we need to learn that in the playoffs moving forward. You have a team on the ropes, finish it.”

In the fourth set the Lady Blues learned from their mistakes and got back to what won them the first two sets. Graham opened up on a 10-0 run with aces from junior Georgia Martin, a kill from sophomore Kimber Pratt and more offense from Mayes and Gordy.

The Lady Mustangs managed to score a few more points than the first two sets but Graham still won it going away by a score of 25-11 after a final Sweetwater hit that went out of bounds.

With the bi-district win under their belts, the Lady Blues will move forward for a matchup against Decatur with the date and time still to be determined. Graham will look to build off the momentum of a big win over Sweetwater and have that carry them to the next round.