Lady Knights, fueled with multiple emotion sources, defeat rival East Bladen

BLADENBORO — Unforgettable. Season’s best. Potential realized.

Five seniors at West Bladen used the descriptive terms frequently following Thursday night’s 25-15, 25-14, 25-18 victory over rival East Bladen in the regular season high school volleyball finale for each. The second emotional triumph in three nights at the Castle put an end to the modest two-game winning streak in the series the Lady Eagles had carved out ending last year and starting this year.

Sent our victorious in their last home match were Alyssa Suggs, Ashlyn Cox, Amelia Brisson, Shelby Pharr and Sidnee Walters.

“It’s about celebrating the last year we play together,” Suggs said of a Senior Night that came months later than normal because of the coronavirus. “We did good tonight.

“We’re rivals. It puts pressure on you, but it’s a good kind of pressure. It makes you do better.”

The Lady Knights of 10th-year head coach Gaye Davis tied for third place in the Three Rivers Conference at 5-3 with South Columbus and Fairmont, and were 7-4 overall. East Bladen ended 3-5 in the league and 5-6 overall under first-year head coach Jordan Raynor.

In the junior varsity match, West Bladen prevailed 25-12, 18-25, 15-10. Each team finished 3-5 in the Three Rivers; overall, the Lady Knights were 5-6 and the Lady Eagles 4-7.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the year didn’t start until November and had a Christmas holiday break that left one week of games. Teams played with face coverings; attendance by fans at matches was limited to 25. East Bladen was a day shy of three weeks since it last played, while West Bladen upset South Columbus in the same gym two nights earlier.

“It was the first time we’ve beaten them in about seven years,” Davis said. “We didn’t give up; kept fighting.

“For some reason, we bloomed this week.”

Cox has been a mainstay setter for two years and Walters joined sophomore Whitney McLean as the team’s best attackers and defenders at the net. When asked about Tuesday’s win over the Lady Stallions being a surprise, Walters’ eyes widened a bit in expressing a genuine response.

“Yes,” she said. “But when we work together — if we had learned to do it earlier in the season, we’d be one of the teams on top.”

On this night, they were nothing like the squad in last year’s finale that had a chance to climb into the playoffs. East Bladen played better and ruled that evening throughout. Thursday, West Bladen remembered that, was the better team and never gave an inch.

The Lady Eagles led the first set 5-1 but soon trailed 12-6. Throughout the night, they played from behind and appeared just a little off their game. Attempts to get shots inside the deep corners or dinked along the sidelines seldom found their marks. The power spikes from various points that scored during a turnaround season of promise were not as polished.

“I felt like we had the potential to beat them the whole time,” Pharr said. “We said it was senior night, let’s give our all. Today was a great day.”

West Bladen was tough defending at the net with Walters and McLean leading the way. The latter joins junior Caroline Brisson and sophomores Emily Young and Lydia Villagomez leading the returning nucleus next season.

“It was the best game all season,” Brisson said. “The energy was up the whole time.”

Walters alluded to the energy as well in talking about a carryover from the South Columbus win.

“It’s a game I’ll never forget,” Cox said. “The energy was up. We were all excited.”

Upsetting a perennial league power, then beating a rival to close the season is about as good as it gets.

“We finally learned to play as a team,” Walters said. “We played as a whole.”

Walters had 13 kills and was perfect on six serves. Young was perfect on 13 serves, Brisson 17-of-18, Pharr 12-of-14 and Cox 11-of-13. Brisson, Cox and McLean had five kills each, Young four and Pharr three. McLean had three blocks and Cox 22 sets.

Playing their final volleyball match for the Lady Eagles were seniors Cheylee Mathis, Katie Evans, Kayleigh Raynor and Sara Gargala. Junior Alexus Mitchell and sophomore Acee Campbell, the other starters, will spearhead the nucleus returning in the fall.

“We worked hard, and wanted to win,” Davis said. “East Bladen has a good team. We showed up tonight.”

And they played for each other.

“We’re all close,” Pharr said. “If they need anything, I’d be there for them. And they would be there for me, too.”

Her classmates agreed.

“It’s a tight-knit group,” Walters said. “Even outside of volleyball, we’ve all been friends.”