Lady Bees Sweep Stone Memorial For District Win

Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis

The Upperman Lady Bees earned a district victory on Tuesday night, defeating Stone Memorial 3-0 (25-13, 28-26, 25-21).

Upperman came out of a timeout on fire early in the first set after trailing 4-1. The Lady Bees proceeded to close the set on a 24-9 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The second set was filled with back-and-forth drama, as the two teams traded blows after a 24-24 tie late in the set. Ultimately, it was Upperman who managed to score two points in a row to take a commanding lead into the final set. Stone Memorial hung around and wouldn’t go quietly, but the Lady Bees took home the victory by winning the third set 25-21.

“We’re just in a good place right now,” head coach Barbie Cook said. “They’re learning a lot, and we’re playing as a team. It’s coming together step-by-step…the girls are coming together and it’s a good thing to watch.”

That back-and-forth second set gave the Lady Bees a chance to battle adversity, and the fight they showed was not lost on their head coach.

“It’s something they are mentally learning to get through,” Cook said. “It wears you out as a coach to see what they are doing…they’ve had to fight to get to where they are, and it’s fun to watch them learn a lot.”

If anything from Tuesday’s match could be improved upon, Cook says her main focus is pretty clear.

“Communication, and that’s one thing I tell any team that I coach; communication is key,” Cook said. “They’ll tell you that there’s a lot of little things to clean up with defense and offense, but it’ll all come together and it’s a learning process.”

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