Updated: Oak Ridge sunk by Admirals; Farragut wins Region 2 tournament

 

Note: This story was updated with stats at 10:10 a.m. Oct. 16.

BEARDEN—The first matchup of the night featured the Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats battling the Farragut Lady Admirals. Oak Ridge fought hard against Farragut, but was eventually beaten in straight sets: 25-8, 25-10, and 25-11.

The first set was all Farragut. After putting up the first six points of the set, the Lady Admirals kept piling on the score. At one point of the set, they commanded a 15-3 lead on the Lady Wildcats. Before the Wildcats knew what happened, Farragut had won the set 25-8.

The second set was closer at first, but Farragut seemed to overpower Oak Ridge with every serve, kill, or block. The Lady Wildcats brought it to 4-3 before the Lady Admirals went on a 10-3 scoring run to pull the lead to 14-6. After that, Farragut didn’t look back.

After the second set, Coach Carmen Foster huddled her girls up and she told them to calm their nerves.

“Stay together,” Foster encouraged. “Concentrate on the pass, talk to each other out there, and stay positive.”

 

The beginning of the third set was much of the same. Farragut jumped out to a 10-2 lead quickly. However, the Lady Wildcats fought hard and brought it to 15-7 before the Lady Admirals slammed the door on Oak Ridge, winning the set 25-11, sealing their victory in straight sets.

Coach Foster thinks the top reason for the loss stems with the nerves of her team.

“(Nerves) played a really big part,” she explained. “We’ve never beaten Farragut, and even though the girls really wanted to, I could tell they were nervous walking on the court.”

“I don’t think we got good and warmed up until the second set when we started getting good digs. You can’t take anything away from Farragut, though. They’re a very, very good team,” Foster added.

 

This was the last game for several players on Oak Ridge’s volleyball team. Seniors Rachel Card, Emily Campbell, Mattie Livengood, Rachel Loeffler, and Sami Viau all put on their uniforms for the last time against Farragut. According to Rachel Card, however, they have all enjoyed the ride.

“We came together as a team this last season, and we’ve all been looking forward to being seniors for a long time,” Card said. “We set a goal to win districts, and we achieved it. We’re really proud of ourselves.”

“I hope they take these life lessons they’ve learned, such as working together and contributing together,” Foster said. “I was very proud of them this year, and I’m very glad I got to coach with them.”

Alex Sherles led her team in kills (12), digs (7), and was tied for the most blocks with two. Olivia Milloway also had two blocks with four kills, and Mattie Livengood slammed home three kills.

 

After Farragut handled Oak Ridge, they squared off against host Bearden, who beat Anderson County in the match before. After a five-set shootout, the Lady Admirals won the Class AAA, Region 2 Tournament in five sets: 25-13, 19-25, 16-25, 25-16, and 15-13. With the regional victory, the Lady Admirals will take on the Region 1 runner-up, either Dobyns Bennett, Jefferson County, Morristown West, or Science Hill, on October 16 at 7 pm. Meanwhile, Bearden, the Region 2 runner-up, will play the Region 1 champion.

Trenton Duffer and Nicholas Rhodes are both freelance contributors.

See the 2014 Class AAA Girls’ Volleyball Region/Sectional Results here.

Here are a few more pictures by Rhodes: