by Rusty Ellis
The Upperman Lady Bees dominated the first two sets of their 3-1 win over Cumberland County before holding off a furious Lady Jet rally to clinch the victory on Tuesday night.
Meiah Moss capped a 5-0 run to open the match for the Lady Bees, and Lila Cade added a kill a few points later to give UHS an 11-2 lead. Cade added back-to-back aces after a timeout to push the lead to 13-2, and Upperman cruised to the 25-8 first-set victory from there.
The second set saw more of the same, as the Lady Bees rolled to a 25-6 victory to move within one set of clinching the match.
Cumberland County didn’t go away quietly however, as they dominated most of the third match by taking a 14-8 lead at the midpoint of the frame, and they extended to their largest lead at 21-11. From there, the Lady Jets closed the set out for a 25-14 win to force another frame.
The decisive fourth set opened with a lot of back-and-forth action, and it was Cade once again who came through for the Lady Bees with a kill to give them a 12-8 lead early. Moss added another ace to push the lead to 18-14 later in the set, and Upperman held on for the 25-20 victory from there to win the match.
It wasn’t a perfect outing for UHS head coach Barbie Cook, who says her team took their foot off the gas after winning the first two sets.
“We tried some different things tonight, and I liked a lot of what we did early,” Cook said. “Sometimes you get that mentality of ‘we did it, we made it,’ and then you shut down and that’s what they did in that game…we’re tired of losing, we want to be the team we know we can be, but it’s just grasping that and finishing strong.”
Even with that, C00k is also quick to say that the first two sets were some of the best volleyball her team has played all season.
“I was excited to see it, and I was excited for the girls to see it because they needed to see it,” Cook said. “That opens their eyes to what they need to focus on. Tonight, we wanted to be that team and be the team we’ve wanted to be all season.”
The Lady Bees were dominant through two sets, and in that, Cook sees a team that can compete for a district championship.
In order for them to do that, they’ll have to keep from shutting down, as Cook said, and playing full matches.
“We’re going to have to work on that,” Cook said. “We always work on new things at practice, whether it’s talking or just going over little things, we need to keep growing. I feel like focusing on those things helps them mentally.”
The Lady Bees will turn around and host Watertown for their next match on Thursday, while Cumberland County will take on Stone Memorial on Sept. 7.
