By Sedrick Bolton III September 19, 2022
JONESBORO The Lady Knights' volleyball team is on pace to have their lowest lost count in nine years after their two set victory over Mount (Mt.) Zion. Of the last six games they won, the previous five were decided in two sets.
Elite Scholars had personal unavailable for the match, so adjustments were made to accompany this change.
"We had our middle [blocker] play outside [hitter]," said head coach Catherine Lawrence. "We push one of our other outsides [hitter] to right side...so we were just adapting to the situation."
Sophomore Shelby Zanders was the recipient on this new position change in the first set.
Early in the first set saw the Lady Knights taking the lead. Sophomore Emily Harden recorded multiple assists, setting her teammates for kills. Zanders was on the receiving end on a majority of her sets.
Some spikes, however, from the Lady Knights were too strong and landed out of bounds or straight to the net, giving points to the Lady Bulldogs.
Despite scoring off Elite Scholar's attack errors, Mt. Zion could not form a strong run. An ace from Zanders, thus making the score 13-6 Lady Knights, caused Mt. Zion to call a timeout to regroup.
Junior Lauren Greene of the Lady Bulldogs galvanize her teammates with back-to-back blocks. Another score from Mt. Zion caused the Lady Knights to call a timeout. The Lady Bulldogs still trailed 18-12.
After the timeout, the Lady Knights closed out the set on a 7-2 run, with the deciding point coming from an Harden set to Zanders for the kill.
The second set belonged to the Lady Knights. They opened with and 11-1 lead with Harden being the centerpiece of the run. She recorded five aces and continued serving up the platter for Zanders to deliver in that span.
Zanders would add a block and a couple off aces to the match, causing Mt. Zion to call timeout in the 14-2 run. With minimum errors throughout the set, Elite Scholars won the second 25- 8.
The chemistry between Zanders and Emily was something to take note of during the match. This was something that has been built over years of playing together.
"I played with her [Harden] in school volleyball and club volleyball as well so we had the connection already built there," said Zanders. "I've known Emily since 6th grade and we played on the same team since 6th grade."
With having four loses in their previous season, the Lady Knights sit at 11-2 with the win today.
The Lady Knights travel to South Atlanta High School tomorrow for their next match against the Lady Horents, while Mt. Zion stays home for their next match against Drew September 22.
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