Robbinsville – As teams in the Smoky Mountain Conference jockey for a playoff spot, the Lady Knights recently dropped a pair of pivotal matches in the race.
A visit to Murphy on Sept. 25 was followed by Swain County making the short trek over for Senior Night on Tuesday. The Knights battled valiantly in both outings, but fell in four sets to each opponent: Robbinsville (10-8, 4-5) dropped a 17-25, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25 contest to Murphy (8-8, 3-6) and a 20-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18 match to Swain (9-8, 4-6).
The Lady Knights have just three appointments left in the regular season: a trip to Hayesville (20-3, 7-2) today will be followed by the home finale Tuesday against division-leading Cherokee (20-8, 10-0). Robbinsville heads to Rosman (5-10, 3-7) to wrap up the campaign Thursday, Oct. 9.
The Smoky Mountain Conference tournament follows and will be held Saturday-Wednesday, Oct. 11-15 at Hayesville.
JV, middle school
Robbinsville (14-2) kept up its strong junior-varsity run by defeating Murphy in three sets: 23-25, 25-16, 15-6. The Lady Knights followed the showing by sweeping Swain County 20-25, 21-25 on Tuesday.
In middle school action, Robbinsville downed the Lady Bulldogs 25-15, 25-10. Set scores from both Monday's trip to Hiwassee Dam and Tuesday's home match against Swain County were not received by Wednesday's press deadline.