Lady Eagles soar to 30th win

Athletic Seymour squad continues to impress as regular season winds down, sweeps in-school tilt with Smoky Bearettes By Chris Silcox The high-flying Seymour Lady Eagles volleyball squad has been busy this week putting a wrap on an unprecedented regular season, and turning its attention to the looming postseason. Seymour swiped a pair of wins Monday evening at Halls High School against the Lady Red Devils of Halls and the Lady Bobcats of Central. The Lady Eagles then split a pair of games Tuesday at South-Doyle, defeating the Lady Cherokees and falling to a strong Farragut club for the second time this season. The busy final week of the regular season continued Wednesday morning with a rare in-school volleyball game against county-rival Sevier County. School officials said Wednesday’s event, viewed by the SHS student body, was the first event of its kind in recent memory. Seymour looked to be in peak-form in the victories Monday over Halls and Central. The Lady Eagles then quickly turned around and faced the powerhouse Farragut club on Tuesday. The Lady Admirals are one of the teams that have handed Seymour a rare defeat on the volleyball court this memorable season. Seymour passed the 30-win plateau Monday night at Halls and has kept the pedal down during the final stretch of games before the all-important district and region tournaments begin. The 30 wins are by far and away the most victories in a single season by a Seymour volleyball team in the history of the school. Former South-Doyle coach Ed Irvin took over the reigns of the Seymour program before last season and appears to be in the midst of building a powerhouse of his own. The Lady Eagles are stocked with tall, quick and athletic girls with superb leaping ability. The disparity in athletic ability was apparent during Seymour’s Monday wins over the Lady Bobcats and Lady Red Devils in North Knoxville. Seymour started the first match with Central a bit flat and fell behind by as many as five points early in the game. The Lady Eagles, led by Jennifer Wilson (8 kills, 6 digs) and Hailey Lindsey (11 digs), soared back from behind and took control of the action by dominating their opponent at the net. Seymour is blessed with a handful of ladies 5-foot-10 and taller who are simply dominating against most opponents at the point of attack. The Lady Eagles came back to down Central 25-15 in the first game, and 23-16 in the next game to claim the win. Crystal Suttles (8 points, 4 aces and 10 digs) and Katie Thomas (8 digs) paced the Lady Eagles in back-to-back 25-14 and 25-17 wins over the host Lady Red Devils. Farragut took the best two-of-three games over the Lady Eagles Tuesday evening at the three-team meet at South-Doyle High School. Seymour lost 25-21 and 25-14 in back-to-back games to the 43-8 Lady Admirals. Megan England (7 blocks and 9 spikes) and Crystal Suttles (8 spikes and 4 kills) led the Lady Eagles in the losing effort. Seymour took a pair of tight contests over the Lady Cherokees on Tuesday night as well. Morgan Peterson (9 points, 3 blocks and 13 assists) and Jennifer Wilson (5 points, 11 spikes and 7 kills) led Seymour in the win over South-Doyle. The Lady Eagles held center-stage Wednesday morning, and made the most of the occasion with 25-18 and 25-19 wins over a scrappy Sevier County club. The first contest between the two county foes was a seesaw battle with both squads taking turns holding the lead. With Seymour leading 19-18, Morgan Peterson served six-straight points for the Lady Eagles to help put the Smoky Bearettes away in front of the active student-body. After one rotation in the second game, the Lady Eagles had a 15-8 advantage and held off a Sevier County charge late in the game to collect the win. The Lady Eagles will enter this evening’s regular-season, home-finale’ against Lenoir City and Morristown East with a 32-4 overall record. A 5 p.m. start time is scheduled for the final home game of the season. Wilson (8 points, 3 aces, 9 spikes and 3 kills) and Thomas (12 digs) were the leaders in Seymour’s Wednesday wins over Sevier County.