Robbinsville volleyball swept in Elite 8 match
Robbinsville – There’s never a good time to have a bad night.
Saturday’s fourth-round playoff loss to Mountain Island Charter put an end to Robbinsville’s magical season, which saw the Lady Knights win their first Smoky Mountain Conference championship, tournament championship and reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.
“We definitely had an off-night,” Robbinsville head volleyball coach Kadey Phillips said. “They were a good team.
“We started to turn it around during the third set, but we came in a little too late.”
The Lady Raptors (No. 5 seed, 24-3) took advantage of every Robbinsville (No. 1 seed, 24-3) miscue in Saturday’s defeat, which prevented the Lady Knights from hosting the Western Regional finals against East Surry (No. 2 seed, 27-3).
Robbinsville simply could not get in sync, with rare defensive lapses and hard hitting from Mountain Island’s Amberly Selk, Kaylen McClinton and Anaiah Jones proving to be tough to stop at the net. Despite the defensive struggles, the Lady Knights were within set point six separate times in the first two sets.
Gracye Burchfield, Karlyn Matheson and Yeika Jimenez showed their tenacity up front, while both Matheson and Liz Ayers delivered some hefty serves that were too tough for the Lady Raptors. Robbinsville led 24-23 in each of the first two stanzas, but was unable to close things out.
Instead, the Lady Knights’ special season was halted a little sooner than anticipated in a 25-27, 27-29, 22-25 loss.
“We just had too many errors in the beginning,” Phillips said. “Then trying to pull it off at the last second, time was not on our side. We’ve had a lot of games and that’s been tough.
“Keeping that momentum flowing over an extended period is tough for anybody. You’re going to have an off night; I just hate it happened tonight.”
The final win of the campaign came Halloween night, as Robbinsville defeated Murphy (No. 9 seed, 22-4) for the third time this season 15-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-22.
“This clearly shows everyone in western North Carolina who the better team is,” Matheson said. “When we went over to Murphy for the first time before the tournament (a four-set loss), I think we were a little unprepared, shell-shocked maybe. I think we’ve made the point that we’re the better team.”
Looking ahead
Robbinsville is losing three seniors – setter Liz Ayers, middle hitter Matheson and outside hitter Gracye Burchfield – but they brought a skill-set that will be sorely missed.
“They have nothing to be ashamed of,” Phillips said. “They’ve overcome everything and exceeded my expectations.”
Even more intimidating for conference foes is that the Lady Knights will only have two seniors next year – middle hitter Karcee Dooley and libero Gabby Hooper – and sharp rising junior and sophomore classes comprised of Kennedy Cable, Halee Anderson, Kensley Phillips, Ally Ayers, Ivy Odom and Yeika Jimenez.
Each played a pivotal role in this year’s success. The sky is the limit with all returning for the start of a new decade in Robbinsville volleyball.
“We’re still young, but we have plenty of returners coming back,” Phillips said. “We’ll hopefully be able to fill the shoes (of the parting seniors) and take it a little further next year.”
