Knights/Bulldogs III set for conference-tournament finals
Robbinsville – Never, ever count the Lady Knights out.
Recent adversities notwithstanding, Robbinsville (No. 2 seed) has found itself paired up with Murphy in the Smoky Mountain Conference tournament finals tonight, following a 28-30, 21-25, 10-15 slugfest with Cherokee (No. 3) in the semifinals Tuesday.
“We’ve been in a lull over the last few weeks,” said Knights head coach Kadey Phillips. “We’ve been pulling out the wins, but we’ve been talking about how to come out of that lull and get some excitement back, to push through the end of the season.”
The Lady Knights had to scramble to fill out a different line-up after starting outside hitter – Delaney Brooms – was diagnosed with an illness Monday afternoon. Phillips called a practice Monday evening after night two of the division tournament – which is being held at Robbinsville – and began to plug in the pieces.
“I truly feel like God has had His hand on our team this week,” Phillips said. “That (Monday night practice) gave us an opportunity to go through our (new) rotation. I threw a lot of ideas out there, but Delaney is our leader in kills.
“She is also one of the few that plays all the way around; she is on every serve-and-receive ball. So I had to think how to replace her offensively and defensively.”
What morphed from the shuffle was Yeika Jimenez moving from middle to outside hitter – and also filling the void on back-row defense, something she had only practiced this year – while players like Zoie Shuler were able to serve for the first time in 2021 against Cherokee.
Shuler and Kelsey Waldroup stepped into the role of middle hitter for Jimenez, while Aubrie Wachacha moved to outside hitter in the third set after Jimenez tweaked her knee late in set two. Wachacha ended up scoring Robbinsville’s final two points to close out the victory.
“This win tonight took everybody – and I mean everybody,” Phillips noted. “I had no subs left. We talked with the girls about that; this isn’t the ideal situation, but it gives others the opportunity to rise.”
As the focus now shifts to the third pairing with Murphy (19-1), Phillips believes the rotation that triumphed Tuesday will prevail in the tournament-championship match, which took place after press time Wednesday.
“I feel really good,” Phillips said. “If we can overcome a situation like tonight, we can overcome anything. At the end of the day, it doesn’t come down to positions and spikes; it’s bump, set, spike.”
Robbinsville (18-3) concluded the regular season Oct. 14 at Hayesville (8-12), besting the Lady Jackets in four sets: 25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 25-8.
JV, middle school
The junior varsity Lady Knights (10-9) dropped their regular-season finale at Hayesville in straight sets, 15-25, 13-25.
Entering the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed, Robbinsville triumphed in three sets against Andrews (No. 6 seed), 9-25, 28-26, 6-15.
The first set featured Olivia Stewart beginning the affair with 16 consecutive serves for the Lady Knights.
The win set-up a semifinal battle against Murphy (No. 2 seed) on Tuesday, but Robbinsville’s season came to an end in a three-set loss to the Lady Bulldogs: 15-25, 25-22, 15-3.
At the middle school level, Robbinsville (8-5) split its final two matches of the season. After falling 13-25, 14-25 at Hayesville, the Lady Knights ended the year with a 26-28, 25-9, 15-5 win at Martins Creek in a make-up match Friday.