Lady Cyclones push issue with Boone; EHS drops five-game season opener

Published 10:37 pm Monday, August 14, 2017

Volleyball fans inside of John Treadway Gym Monday night got their monies worth as the Lady Cyclones hosted Daniel Boone to start up the 2017 volleyball season.

With a never-say-die attitude, the Lady Cyclones would force the contest into a fifth game before falling 3-2 to the Lady Trailblazers (25-12, 12-25, 25-16, 25-27, 15-11).

“It was a really solid match for opening the season,” said Elizabethton head coach Leslee Bradley. “We played really really hard. You want the effort, and the effort was definitely there.”

After dropping the opening game 25-12, the Lady Cyclones switched gears in game two as they rallied to a 25-11 win to tie things up 1-1. In game two, leading 23-16, Lady Cyclones’ Morgan Smith smashed a kill to the back left corner to put squad up 24-16 before advancing on to an eight-point victory.

“The first game, we just didn’t play hard enough,” said Bradley. “I felt instead of just worrying about our game; we were worried about what Boone was trying to do. So during the second, we just said, ‘Let’s play and do what we do best.”‘

The Lady Trailblazers would again get the best of the Lady Cyclones in game three as the rolled to 25-16 win to go up 2-1. However, the Lady Cyclones had some highlights in game three. With Boone holding a 15-12 lead, Lady Cyclones Sydney Goodsell would make a diving one-handed save, before finishing off the long point with a deep kill. Three points later, Goodsell would have another kill as she fired the ball across the court to make the game 17-14 Boone.

Needing to win game four to stay alive, the Lady Cyclones decided they weren’t quite ready to head to the house. Elizabethton would hold on 27-25 in game four with Lady Cyclones Hannah Edwards blasting a game winning shot to make it a 2-2 contest.

“It was a very closely contested set,” said Bradley. “It epitomized what the whole match was like because it was really just a dog fight back and forth all night. It feels really good to be able to pull that out.”

In the final game, the Lady Trailblazers picked up steam early as they moved to a 15-11 victory.

Offensively, Goodsell led the way with 13 kills on the night while Smith recorded 12. EHS’s Josie Lyons had 20 assists on the night while Smith clocked in 16.

Defensively, Goodsell finished with 36 digs while Elizabethton libero Mary Beth Biggs had 35. Smith had 20 digs.

At the net, Lady Cyclones Cassidee Ray recorded three blocks while Hannah Booster and Macey Burleson both had two. Elizabethton’s Emilee Nanney had one block on the night.

Biggs would also finish the night with four aces while Lyons recorded three. Goodsell had two aces. Edwards finished the night with one ace.

Tonight, the Lady Cyclones will host Sullivan South to open up conference play.