Asheville – Though sports across Graham County have been paused until Sept. 13, there are plenty of positives to find in Robbinsville’s volleyball program.
The Lady Knights sliced through their non-Smoky Mountain Conference slate with sheer ease, going 6-0 against schools of various classifications.
And though head coach Kadey Phillips is understandably concerned about her squad missing two weeks of practice, optimism remains high that Robbinsville can recapture its continuity when conference play begins.
“I feel like I can speak for all of us coaches and athletes by saying, we are tired of this,” Phillips said. “We were looking forward to having an uninterrupted season, especially after last season. We are currently undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the state, so ‘shut down’ are not the words you want to hear when your team is doing so well.
“I have a feeling that we will not be the only school having to experience this, but we will make the best of it. A conference title is still not off the table; however, we will have to come off this two weeks ready to compete. We are already six games deep – just within two weeks of our season – so I have full confidence that the girls will rise to the occasion.”
The two-week sabbatical will force Robbinsville to reschedule four conference matches: Swain County, Cherokee and Murphy (each road trips) and a scheduled home tilt with Andrews.
“I have been working diligently to reschedule all of our conference games and believe I will be able to do so,” Phillips said. “However, in order to secure conference games, I am having to cancel non-conference games that we had scheduled. Therefore, we are losing some contests and will not have a full 22-game season going into the (conference) tournament and playoffs, so that is disappointing.”
Of the 21 sets contested thus far this year, Robbinsville has prevailed in 18. Four of the non-conference match-ups have ended with a decisive Lady Knights sweep, including an Aug. 26 road trip to Asheville (0-2). Robbinsville took the match 25-17, 25-19, 25-13.
The junior varsity Lady Knights (4-1) have not lost since the season opener, taking straight sets over the Lady Cougars 25-20, 25-14 on Aug. 26.