GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Lady Wildcats volleyball team traveled to Lawrence County High School on Oct. 7, where their season sadly came to an end. They lost against Lawrence 3-0. The set scores were 25-18, 25-18, and 25-18.

The Lady Wildcats in this match had some solid stretches of play, but could never slow down Lawrence’s attack. After dropping the opening set of the match, the ‘Cats were hanging with Lawrence in the second set. Tullahoma was down just 12-11. Lawrence regrouped fast and started finding gaps and powering through Tullahoma’s side of the court. They quickly took hold of the second frame, going on an 8-1 scoring run translating to a 20-12 scoreline. The player doing the most damage in this match for Lawrence offensively in this run and the game as a whole was sophomore Liyah Dixon. She was hitting booming kill shots throughout the match and ended up being the kill leader of the game with 16.

In the third set, Tullahoma fell behind again, but with their back against the wall trailing 20-12, they began to go on a run. They were finding gaps on the court, painting lines on some shots, and playing great defense. A player a part of that great defense that helped bring Tullahoma back in the set was senior Maggie Lynch. The fourth-year libero was diving and keeping shots in play. She even had a couple of impressive digs against Dixon, whose put away shots for most of the game were pretty much unsavable.

Lynch in the match had a team-high 10 digs.

It was a great overall effort by Lynch and the rest of the Lady Wildcats squad, as they brought the score back to 23-18, but it ended up just not being enough. Lawrence went on to claim the next two points and claim their spot in the next round of the district tournament.

A few other players that had big games for Tullahoma were sophomore Avanley Metcalf, junior Gabbi Gardner, and senior Gabriella Dacosta. All three players made an impact in a number of areas in the contest. Gardner led the team in aces with three, and also was tied for second in most kills in the match for Tullahoma with four. Dacosta in the game was good defensively, picking up five digs, and also had a hand in the Lady Wildcats’ offense, picking up two kills. Metcalf in the match led the team in assists with 16, had the second most aces on the team with two, and the second most digs on Tullahoma with seven. Sophomore Emily Bell also had a great game for Tullahoma, posting the most kills on the team with seven.

The match against Lawrence was an emotional match for the Lady Wildcats, as a few seniors played their final match for THS. Thank you to seniors Hillary Taylor, Aubrey North, Maggie Lynch, and Gabriella Dacosta for all they have done for the Tullahoma volleyball program and for all the work they have put in to it in their time at THS.