MARYVILLE — Sequoyah’s second set against Maryville Christian showed what the potential that the volleyball Lady Chiefs have.
However, injuries and quarantining kept the program from reaching that potential in the first week of the season.
Sequoyah’s control of the second set did not carry over to the decisive set against Maryville Christian as a 2-1 loss to the Eagles, and a 2-0 loss to William Blount, kept the Lady Chiefs out of the win column in a trimatch at William Blount. Sequoyah’s second set got off to a 4-2 advantage featuring a dig from Ellie Moore and a pair of kills from Jordan Alsup and Caroline Lovingood. Maryville Christian managed to square things up at five all, but the Lady Chiefs regained and would not relinquish their lead after that. Alicia Kimble had a service ace along with a kill to move the score to 20-14 Sequoyah.
Kimble, Lovingood and Kaiti Johnson all added a kill each in the final five points to close out the set 25-21 and force a decisive third.
“We were just really trying to focus on good, positive communication out on the court. That was a brand new rotation — we have not been able to get a set rotation because of all the injuries that we have had so far,” Sequoyah Coach Rebekah Monhollen said. “I keep telling whoever is on the court that when you are on the court play the ball and make sure you are talking to your teammates, that way we don’t have those issues.”
The opening match itself did not start off with the same intensity. Moore and Johnson both made impressive digs, but Maryville Christian went ahead 7-0 and 12-2 before Sequoyah found its footing.
Lovingood and Johnson added a pair of kills as the Lady Chiefs rallied back to only trail 16-12. Moments later Alsup’s first kill of the game evened things up at 18, but the Lady Chiefs weren’t able to build and went down 25-18 in the opening set. For Monhollen, finding the way to avoid those slow starts comes down to communication and familiarity with each other.
“(It was) better. It was loud in here. There was a harsh environment in the (William Blount) game with some of the fans, but the girls stayed positive and were really helping each other out,” she said. “It forced them to talk a little more, and I saw some really good communication before — I was proud of them for that.”
The decisive set is where things might have gone off track. Sequoyah started the set with a player suffering a hip injury and lost another player later on.
“We couldn’t catch a break. We started off with good energy, but once that injury happened we kind of lost it and everybody was kind of lost. I did make the mistake of trying to put someone that was not on the roster which we did not realize until it was too late. That broke us down, but that was in the first set,” Monhollen said. “The girls have fought hard, we just have to get healthy. Between COVID and injuries we are aching for people to get healthy.”
Moore added three digs early on in the third set, but Sequoyah still went behind 5-1 and 8-6. A kill from Kimble broke a streak of Maryville Christian points, but the Lady Eagles’ advantage stretched out to six. Kimble and Johnson scooped out two more digs while a kill from Jonhson earned another point, but the rotating Lady Chiefs couldn’t break Maryville Christian’s strides. The Lady Eagles won the set and the match off a 25-11 score.
Sequoyah’s earlier game with William Blount was another example of what the squad can do when things are clicking. The Lady Chiefs fought back, but fell in the first set 27-25 before losing in two sets.
“We had good, high energy,” Monhollen said. “We had Zoe (Cathcart) in that game — she is only cleared to play two sets right now. She really brings that energy and is good at being my energizer on the court. That is what she did in that first set. It was loud, it was fun, it was a faster set game then what we are used to, and the girls responded pretty well to it.”
Sequoyah (0-4) fell to Meigs County 3-0 (23-25, 23-25, 20-25) on Aug. 16 and 3-1 to Lenoir City (23-25, 25-18, 23-25, 20-25) one day later.
The Lady Chiefs return to action on Monday, hosting a trimatch with Maryville Christian and Polk County set to start at 6 p.m.
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