Lady Dawgs up, down season
As of Sept. 11, Bearden High School’s volleyball team had a record of 5-8. A recap of the team’s season thus far, with quotes from fourth-year head coach Kaity Davidson.
Aug. 19: 3-0 win over Christian Academy of Knoxville. “Overall played a very consistent game. Everyone was doing their job. Very clean match.”
Aug. 21: 2-1 loss to Concord Christian School. “It was just not our night. It was very good games but we just could not execute that night.”
Showdown at the Sunsphere Tournament (Aug. 22/23): 2-0 loss to a team from Kentucky on Aug. 22.
Aug. 23: 2-1 loss to Sevier Co. High School. “Very competitive match. When we played them in preseason it wasn’t a great match, but I thought ‘oh man, we could take them.’ Unfortunately we just fell short.”
Aug. 23: 2-1 win over South-Doyle High School. “Just coming off a long break and we just played our game.”
Aug. 23: 2-0 win over Seymour High School. “Started getting our rhythm back, started moving the ball around, and we cleaned up our serve-receive.”
Aug. 23: 2-1 win over Powell High School. “Very competitive. We had to make some adjustments. Just finding our rhythm. I flipped from running a 6-2 (two setters) to a 5-1.”
Aug. 25: 2-0 win over Eagleton High School. “We had a lot of fun. We were able to work on some plays.”
Aug. 26: 3-2 loss to Knoxville Trailblazers (team of homeschoolers), including a 16-14 final set. “Very competitive game; they’re a very solid, fundamental team. Back-and-forth battle.”
Aug. 28: 3-1 loss to Grace Christian Academy. “I thought once we took that set, things were gonna turn around, but we just didn’t mentally check into that game.”
Sept. 4: 3-2 loss to Farragut High School. “I think (the match) was something that needed to happen now to figure out what we needed to do later.”
The Lady Bulldogs lost 3-0 to William Blount High School on Sept 9, and 3-2 loss to West High School on Sept. 11.
“This season has started off higher than I thought we would be,” Davidson said. “We’re still working out the kinks, as far as what’s working, what’s not working. We’re still adjusting and figuring out those leadership roles.”
Key players for Davidson have included senior outside hitter Alyssa Spradlin and libero Finley Wright. Spradlin recently returned from a serious injury. She had 20 kills against archrival Farragut.
“Stepping up and being a leader in her first game back (against Farragut),” said Davidson, of Spradlin. “I would expect nothing less of her.”
“Finley Wright stepping into huge shoes to fill … she’s handling it very well. She’s running that defense. She’s a leader and she’s keeping our team up.”
