Robbinsville maintaining steady improvements amid hectic travel schedule
Candler – The Lady Knights have improved to 13-3 following their most recent stretch, but the team’s success might be the best-kept secret at Robbinsville in recent memory.
Save for a quick check-in Sept. 12 against Hiwassee Dam (3-10), the Knights have been traversing the winding roads of Western North Carolina since sweeping Murphy at home Aug. 27. Robbinsville has went 5-2 in the fallout, only losing to Hayesville on Sept. 3 and Enka (9-4) on Tuesday.
Despite falling to the 3A Sugar Jets 13-25, 16-25, 21-25, Robbinsville swept a pair of Little Smoky Mountain Conference opponents: prevailing 19-25, 18-25, 12-25 to the Lady Eagles on Sept. 12 and 25-17, 25-11, 25-7 at Nantahala (1-7) on Monday.
The road-heavy schedule the Lady Knights have been faced with is a double-edged sword: head coach Kadey Phillips maps out tough non-conference opponents to help Robbinsville improve, but this year the philosophy has clashed with a schedule rotation in the Smoky Mountain Conference that has kept the Knights away from the comforts of home for quite some time.
In fact, Robbinsville has only played in its home gym five times across the current 16-match span.
A 4-1 mark at home proves that when gameday rolls around, the Lady Knights have gotten used to piling onto an activity bus.
It will only get worse before it gets better, too. Five more road matches stand between Robbinsville and a four-match homestand – each pivotal conference showdowns – which will kick off Oct. 1 against Andrews.
Before the fun begins at home, the Knights return to divisional play tonight at Swain County (8-4); travel to Hiwassee Dam and Murphy (6-5) for return matches Monday and Thursday, Sept. 26; head to Cherokee (12-1) for their first pairing with the Lady Braves on Tuesday; and cap the exhausting run Monday, Sept. 30 at Franklin (14-1). The trek to Macon County will conclude Robbinsville’s non-conference slate for the season.
The Graham Star will live-stream Robbinsville’s final four home matches on grahamstarsports.com. PPV access is $6.99.
JV, middle school
Robbinsville’s future varsity athletes launched Tuesday’s set with Enka by falling in a sweep.
The JV Lady Knights are now 3-6 on the year.
The middle school Lady Knights (2-2) fell 25-19, 25-14 in Sept. 12’s opener to Hiwassee Dam/Ranger.