By: Jamie Bernal III
jamie@seymourherald.com
The Seymour Eagles volleyball team rallied back to win the fourth set Thursday, and started very strong in the final set, only to fall to the Sevier County Bears 11 – 15.
In the fourth set, Seymour’s largest margin was 14 – 5. But the Bears rallied back, and won seven of nine points at one time. They eventually tied the score and went up by one to make the set score 21 – 22. The Lady Eagles, led by Coach Ed Irvin, called a timeout and regrouped.
They came out and won four of five points to take the set and go onto the decisive fifth set, which they won the first two points. They were more than halfway to victory leading 9 – 7, when the match turned south. Sevier County went on a tear, winning the final five points to take the set and the match.
“It was a well played match on both sides,” said Irvin. “They have a good offensive team and we didn’t generate enough offense tonight to win the match.”
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the last two points were harder to handle than normal. After receiving the serve, two Eagles who touched the ball first, hit the ball too high in the air and it bounced off pipes in the rafters. The ball came down with too much force and the girls could not get under it in time.
“The girl at the end had strong serves. She just got hot and hit real strong serves,” said Irvin.
A possible strategic flaw occurred after the coin toss to begin the final set. All of the sets were won on one side of the court. Seymour won the toss and picked the winless side. While there are no obvious advantages to either side of the court, mentally some of the players and coaches were aware of the statistic and it could have gotten in their heads, for better or for worse.
Irvin instructed his team during a timeout that they were not playing with good fundamentals. The team will become much better once the large number of young, inexperienced players see enough game action.
“We gave away too many easy points,” said Irvin. “We are a young team. Thirteen out of 20 players are freshman. You can’t simulate game experience in practice with younger players.”
The loss gives Seymour a 9-5 record overall and 2-1 in the IMAC.

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.