West Henderson’s Lady Falcons volleyball team defeated Anderson Central on Tuesday, Oct. 23 in the first round of state playoffs, improving to 29-2, and the team plays T.C Roberson next.
The team had a clean sweep of sets in the match, winning the first set 25-12, the second 25-21 and the third 25-13. The team has won 16 games in a row, with their last loss dating back to Sept. 11. Senior Ashley Downer is the libero for the team, and said the stress of the playoffs did not affect her performance too much.
“We knew that it was going to be hard coming into the first round of playoffs, and we were just really focused on the small things coming in,” Downer said. “So I don’t know if I would have [had] any big nerves because I knew that we were going to come out and play our hardest.”
Downer said the team was blocking well and was also reading the other team well during the game. Senior Grace Neve is the middle blocker and opposite for the team, and she said the team did a good job sticking together.
Head Coach Tiffany Lowrance noted the importance of communication between teammates, and said the team needs to improve on it.
“We’re going to pick up on our talk,” Lowrance said. “When we started talking more, our defense really played well tonight.”
Both Downer and Neve agreed with Lowrance about communication as they said the team needs to improve on their talking between one another. Lowrance said the team has to keep up with the flow of the game and refrain from slowing down.
West Henderson plays TC Roberson on Thursday, Oct. 25. Neve said she felt similarly to Downer in regards to stress: this game would not be too stressful despite the stakes.
“[Facing bigger competition] is a little more nerve wracking because it’s going to be a closer game,” Neve said. “But other than that, not much nerves, just knowing that it’s a bigger game than this one is.”
Lowrance said the game will be exciting, and the team needs to be ready to practice and to take on a good team.
Downer is excited for the game, and she said the team will be well prepared because the team faced TC Roberson earlier in the season.
“I’m excited, knowing that we’ve taken on [TC Roberson] and we know exactly what their hitters do and everything,” Downer said. “So we’ll know exactly how to practice and get ready.”
By: Graham Grush, Sports Editor
