The Seymour Lady Eagles dropped to 2-3 on the season after Tuesday’s loss at much improved Sevier County.
The Bearettes appear to be a team on the rise under head coach Billy Ward.
Seymour head coach Ed Irvin took his two-time defending district champion Lady Eagles to face the Bearettes on Tuesday and, to say the least, the veteran prep volleyball coach came away from the intra-county match impressed with AAA Bearettes.
Seymour, an A/AA volleyball program, was handed 25-12, 25-19 and 25-21 losses in the best of five match. The Lady Eagles held on for their only win, 25-23, in the third game of the match but Sevier County rallied back to win the fourth and final game 25-21 to take the match.
“Coach Ward has done an outstanding job of bringing the Sevier County volleyball program from the bottom of the district to where they are now, A team that the upper-echelon of (District) 4-AAA will not be able to take lightly,” said Irvin. “Their primary offense is a back row attack, which is a style that is hard to simulate in practice without good back row attackers on your squad.”
Sevier County jumped in front of Seymour early in the first game and cruised to the 25-12 win. The Lady Eagles took early command of the second game but the Bearettes clawed back in front and won the second game 25-19.
In the third game, the teams were tied at 13-13 but the Lady Eagles took charge of the game and pulled away for the 25-23 win. The fourth game was a see-saw battle all the way with Sevier County pulling away at the end for the 25-21 victory to end the match.
Seymour senior All-State candidate Morgan Peterson led the Lady Eagles with 39 spikes, 17 kills, 49 sets and 11 assists. Courtney Ervin provided a solid effort for the Lady Eagles as well, totaling 26 spikes and 29 digs in Tuesday’s match.
A young team in ’08, Irvin says his Lady Eagles will be a work-in-progress through at least the first half of this season.
“Our inexperience will keep us struggling until we can learn to play together and eliminate the unforced errors we seem to make at the most inopportune times,” Irvin commented. “Hopefully, that will happen sooner than later.”