BY BRIAN HAMILTON
SEYMOUR – After a convincing first set, which Farragut won 25-14, the Lady Ads fell behind two sets-to-one after giving up the second and third sets to Seymour on Tuesday night. In a tightly contested fourth set, which they could have easily lost, Farragut was able to rally late and win 25-23, forcing a decisive fifth set. The Lady Ads would make quick work of Seymour in the final set, jumping out to an early lead, en route to a 15-6 win, taking the match 3-2.
“We’ve been talking about what kind of team we want to be,” Farragut coach Whitney Lee said after the match. “Do we want to be just good enough, or do we want to be above that? They keep telling me they want to be better than just good and they showed it. I’ve seen resiliency in spurts and in different ways they’ve shown up, but tonight they just decided that that’s who they really want to be.”
Seymour’s Elena Hylan (10) tries to get one over the net, while Farragut’s. Liv Cope (25) and Megan Frana (6) go for the block. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Set 1: Farragut, 25 Seymour 14
Seymour jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first set when Kenzie Warner scored an ace, but could not get it over the net on the next serve to pull Farragut to within 3-2. From that point, the Lady Ads would go on an 8-3 run to take a 9-5 advantage after trailing 3-1.
A block by Baylie Sliger would pull Seymour to within 9-7, but a pair of kills by Megan Frana would push the Farragut lead to 11-7. Back-to-back scores by the Lady ads would extend the lead to 13-8 and the lead would balloon to 16-9 on a kill by Katherine Cabaniss.
A pair of kills by freshman outside hitter Emmy Walkup would give Farragut an 18-10 lead. Seymour would not go quietly, however, scoring three straight points to trim a 23-11 deficit to 23-14. Farragut would score the final two points of the set on Lady Eagles’ volleys that landed out of bounds, giving the Lady Ads a 25-14 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Set 2: Seymour, 25 Farragut, 22
Seymour took another early lead, as Cabaniss’ volley landed out of bounds to give the Lady Eagles a 2-0 advantage. Farragut would take a 4-3 lead on a kill by Walkup, but Seymour would respond with a 3-0 run to go ahead 6-4. The Lady Eagles would extend the lead to 8-4 on a kill by Elena Hylan.
The Seymour lead was 11-7 when Farragut proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to go ahead 12-11, but Seymour would knot the game at 12-12 when a volley by Cabaniss fell out of bounds. A block and kill by Cabaniss would give Farragut a 16-14 lead, but the Lady Eagles would eventually tie the game at 18-18.
Emberly McNair hit the ball out of bounds to give Seymour a 19-18 lead. Ayda Patterson’s tap over the net for a kill put the Lady Eagles ahead 21-18, but Hylan failed to get the ensuing serve over the net, pulling Farragut to within 21-19.
With Seymour leading 23-19, Liv Cope scored on a block, which was followed by Seymour’s Patterson hitting the ball into the net, as the Lady Ads used a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to 23-22.
Seymour would go on to secure the win when Cabaniss’ volley went into the net on match point, giving the Lady Eagles the 25-22 win and tying the match at 1-1.
Set 3: Seymour, 25 Farragut, 22
Once again, Seymour took an early 3-1 lead when Walkup volleyed the ball out of bounds and the Lady Eagles would go on to stretch the lead to 8-2. Farragut responded with a 5-0 run, however, as Megan Frana scored on back-to-back kills to make the score 8-7.
Farragut would take a 9-8 lead when Chloe Cole scored on a kill, forcing Seymour to call timeout. The Lady Ads would stretch the run to 9-0, taking an 11-8 lead after Ayda Patterson volleyed out of bounds.
Seymour coach Jason Jacklet instructs his players during the match. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Abigail Prado scored on a nice volley to end the Farragut run, and pull Seymour to within 11-9. The teams battled back and forth throughout, but Farragut would lead 16-14 on a kill by Walkup.
Seymour would retake the lead at 17-16 and then 18-16 when Frana hit the ball out of bounds. The teams continued to stay neck-and-neck and were tied at 22-22 when Farrgut’s Cole scored a kill.
That would be the last point the Lady Ads scored in the set, however, as Seymour scored three consecutive points to win the set 25-22, giving the Lady Eagles a commanding 3-1 lead in the match.
Set 4: Farragut, 25 Seymour, 23
Again, Seymour drew first blood, taking a 1-0 lead on a penalty, but Cabaniss would quickly respond with a kill to knot the score at 1-1. Farragut would go on a 3-0 run, which eventually grew into a 5-2 advantage.
Seymour then embarked on a 5-0 run, taking a 7-5 lead on back-to-back kills by Elena Hylan, as the sophomore began to make her footprint on the fourth set. The Lady Eagles led 10-6 when Kenzie Warner scored a kill.
Farragut would answer, however, tying the game at 11-11, thanks to a 5-1 spurt. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way, as the margin between the Lady Ads losing the match 3-1 and forcing a winner-take-all set became razor thin.
Emberly McNair finally killed a 45 second volley to pull Farragut to within 20-19, but Prado would answer with a kill of her own to stretch the Seymour lead to 21-19.
Walkup scored a kill to knot the score at 22-22, but another kill by Prado put the Lady Eagles back in front 23-22. A kill by Walkup tied the game at 23-23 and Farragut would score the last two points of the set to win 25-23 and tie the match at 2-2.
Set 5: Farragut, 15 Seymour, 6
While Seymour was used to sticking first in the previous sets, Farragut took a page out of their book in the fifth and final set, taking an early 3-0 lead.
Seymour finally got on the board when Loralie White sent one over the net that couldn’t be returned, making the score 3-1. The Lady Ads then took a 5-1 lead after a reaching tap over the net by Walkup, which was followed by a block by Frana.
Farragut kept its foot on the gas throughout the set, as Frana scored on back-to-back aces to stretch the lead to 12-4. A third ace by Frana gave the Lady Ads a 14-4 lead and sent the set to a match point.
The Lady Eagles managed to score two straight points, but their comeback attempt was thwarted when Liv Cope tapped the ball over the net for the 15-6 win. Farragut went on to win the match 3-2.
Farragut players celebrate as the Lady Ads take control during the fifth set. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Kathryn Cabaniss, a junior, and freshman Emmy Walkup stepped up and had big games for the Lady Ads.
“She’s transitioning so well — you go from middle school to varsity and it’s so much faster,” Lee said of Walkup. “I had her on the right side at the beginning of the season and we had an injury, so I moved her to the left, and just wherever I put her, she’s ready. She’ll have a bad serve and she’ll just stick the next one. She’s a well-rounded athlete because of her physical ability and her mental toughness.”
Abigail Prado, who sat out the first set, had a big night for the Lady Eagles, but Seymour coach Jason Jacklet was impressed with the performance of sophomore Elena Hylan.
“She’s really developed this year,” Jacklet said of Hylan. “She hits really well and she blocks really well. She had a few blocks on the right side (tonight).”
While Jacklet was disappointed in the outcome of the match, he believes that his team found things to work on and adjustments to make in what is still a very young season.
“I think our serve receive got away from us. We had a couple points there (in the fourth set) and that carried over to the fifth set. They did a really good job of serving us deep and targeting players and our players just couldn’t make adjustments, or maybe I didn’t make the right adjustments. In that second and third set, we were controlling the serve and the serve receive and in that fourth and fifth set they did more of that.”
Seymour (2-1) will travel to Pigeon Forge on Thursday to face the Lady Tigers (1-0), while Farragut (2-0) will face A.C. Reynolds on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Sunsphere Tournament.