2nd Place finish for Lady Wildcats
Posted October 5, 2012
Coach Jill, Candace, Lofton, Emma, Winnie, Paige, Jaice (holding plaque), Emily, Shawna, Allison, Bailey, Jordan, and Coach Blue
The Lady Wildcats closed out their 2012 season participating in the MTAC Tournament being hosted by William James. At the end of regular season play, the Lady Wildcats were tied with Charlotte, both teams having 9-3 records. The Lady Wildcats ended with the #3 seed for the tournament due to losing to Charlotte twice in the regular season.
The first opponent for the Lady Wildcats was the host team, William James Lady Colonels. Waverly had defeated the Lady Colonels in their previous two meetings needing only 2 sets in each match. But this was the Lady Colonels' home court. It was a close match but the Lady Wildcats won 25-22, 24-26, 15-12 and advanced to the semi-finals in the tournament.
The Lady Wildcats faced the Charlotte Lady Tigers in the semi-final match. Charlotte had given Waverly 2 of it's 3 losses during regular season play. Waverly jumped out to a 4-0 lead with Emma Rushton serving. On their second turn at serve, the Lady Wildcats added more to their lead with Winnie Bradley serving, 10-3. The Lady Wildcats remained out in front of the Lady Tigers and won the first set 25-17.
The Lady Wildcats fell behind early in the second set, 9-2. It looked as if this match would be as the other two meetings between the teams and go 3 sets. Charlotte had a 21-17 lead late in the second set then gave the ball over to the Lady Wildcats after a service error. The Lady Wildcats capitalized on a 4-point run with Winnie Bradley at the service line to tie the score, 21-21. The ball went back to Charlotte after a serving error by Waverly putting the Lady Tigers in front 22-21. Then on a passing error out of bounds by Charlotte, Lofton Etheridge rotated to serve for the Lady Wildcats. Score is tied at 22-22. Etheridge then serves 3 aces for the Lady Wildcats to give them the match win and advance to the championship match against the Harpeth Lady Indians.
The Lady Wildcats and Lady Indians had split their two meetings during the regular season. In the first set of the championship match, Waverly had the first opportunity at set point with the score 24-22. The serve went back to the Lady Indians after Waverly hit a kill attempt into the net. The score was then tied, 24-24, when another kill attempt went into the net for Waverly. Harpeth then served the ball out and gave the Lady Wildcats another chance for set point with the score 25-24. Waverly let another set point opportunity slip through their hands when a kill attempt sailed out of bounds. The Lady Indians scored the next three points to take the set win 27-25. The second set remained close early. But when Harpeth took a 14-9 lead the Lady Indians would not let Waverly pull any closer than 3 points. Harpeth went on to win the set 25-17, leaving the Lady Wildcats to finish 2nd for the tournament and ending their season with a 17-8 overall record.
The B-team for Waverly also faced William James in their opening round of the tournament. The Lady Wildcats had an awesome performance at the service line from Kaley Grisham. In Grisham's first turn at serve, Waverly had a 7-point run. Then on Grisham's second turn at serve the Lady Wildcats had an 8-point run. Waverly won the first set 25-15. The Lady Wildcats also won the second set of the match, 25-23, advancing to the semi-finals.
Waverly's B-team also faced Charlotte in their semi-final match for the tournament. The Lady Wildcats lost the semi-final match to the Lady Tigers in two sets, 15-25 and 21-25, ending their season with a record of 9-5.
