The preseason contest gave fans of Grayson County volleyball their first look at the fledgling freshman team. This marks the first time the Lady Cougars have fielded a freshman team and it is stocked with a number of young ladies from the middle school, which is a very positive sign for the future of the sport locally.
In the opening match, the freshmen showed a lot of ability as they raced out to a 15-7 first-game win. They could not sustain it, however, as they dropped the second game 3-15. In a deciding game limited to just 10 minutes, they fell behind 7-0 in the early going, then ran out of time as they staged a comeback, dropping the final game 4-8 to lose the match. Still, the young team showed a lot of promise and can only improve as they gain more experience.
The JV team was up next, and they followed the same pattern set by the freshmen earlier. They ran away with the first game 15-3 and led 7-5 in the second game, but then gave up 10 straight points to lose 7-15, setting up a deciding third game, which was limited to just 10 points.
Sophomore Amy Satterfield served three straight aces to give the Lady Cougars a quick lead, but the Lady Panthers came back with four on their next service to take the lead. Morgan Larrimore served two more points for Grayson County, but E'town scored the last six points to take the match 15-3, 7-15, 5-10.
In the varsity match, that disturbing pattern seemed to be showing up again as the Lady Cougars just steamrolled E'town in the first game, 15-3. Senior Amanda Webb served seven straight points, getting excellent hitting from sophomore Lee Ann Wood, who had a pair of kills in the run, and a big block at the net from junior Savannah Barrett.
In the second game, Grayson County could not seem to sustain anything and struggled mightily. With the game tied at 5-5, E'town scored nine straight points and served five times on game point before finally putting it away 7-15.
That set up the deciding third game one more time, and this one was close and exciting all the way through. The lead see-sawed back and forth, with neither team leading by more than two points. Finally, trailing 7-9, the Lady Cougars got a run together behind the serving of junior Tiffany Clemons. Four straight points, the last coming on a Clemons ace, forced E'town to call a timeout to try to calm things down. Leading 11-9, the Lady Cougars scored another point after the timeout and held their largest lead of the game.
However, the Lady Panthers were not out of it. They came back to tie it one more time at 13 apiece before giving up the ball one last time. Senior Amanda Fulkerson took the serve, and following a long, spirited volley, Grayson County won the point to get to match point. On the next serve and volley, E'town's Amanda Hester was set at the net and she went up to try for the kill, but Satterfield got up on the block and got enough of the ball to send it back toward the net. The ball slithered along the top of the tape with the spin coming up in the Lady Cougars' favor as it trickled over and fell untouched for the deciding point.
The regular season begins next Monday as Grayson County travels to Hancock County for its opener at 5 p.m. Their home opener will be the following night, August 20 at 5 p.m. against Central Hardin.
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