West sweeps Sevier County, sits atop district rankings

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Morristown West made it look easy on Tuesday night as they notched their second district win of the young volleyball season at Sevier County.

West battled to take a roller coaster of a first set 25-23, stepped up when they needed to in the second, winning 25-21, then were dominant down the stretch in the third, closing out the match with a 25-14 set, securing the three-set victory.

It was a top-down team performance, highlighted by Aubrie Messer and Brie Blevins’ eight kills apiece. The two also combined for 11 blocks.

The Lady Trojans were unflappable; each time the Bearettes began to put a run together West kept cool and collected, and were able to stave off any potential threat.

“I preach all the time, ‘Don’t be complacent’,” West head coach Lacey Price Evans. “When we’re in those situations, we just have to go back to the basics and work through it and just get our way out of the hole.”

The first hole the Lady Trojans had to dig out of came early in the first set. The Bearettes struck first, and held the lead until West took the 8-7 lead on a kill from Haley Cabe.

The set went back and forth, and with the score knotted at 21, Blevins stepped up big. She recorded two kills on the next five points for the Lady Trojans, and helped them eke out the first set 25-23.

Blevins’ presence at the net has been a key piece to the Lady Trojans’ success this season.

“Brie’s athleticism is insane. She may have a wrong set or a block, but then she’s still able to get a hand on the ball,” Evans said. “She’s very athletic and that’s very key to her being a threat to other teams.”

The second set brought more of the same, with Sevier County jumping out to a 4-0 lead. West again kept their calm, but the Bearettes again clawed back, and the set was drawn at 20. Timely kills from Messer and Delaney Weddington gave West the set 25-21.

“We came out very slow in the first two sets, and we had to dig ourselves out of a hole both times, so I was glad to see we were able to turn it around in that third set and come out ready to play,” Evans said.

It was game number three where West flourished.They jumped out to a 10-3 advantage, with kills from Blevins, Cabe, Messer, Bella Forte and Emmah Long paving the way. Messer also turned in an ace.

Sevier County fought back, coming within two points of West with the score at 12-10, but the Lady Trojans closed the game with a 13-4 run, giving them the set 25-14, and the match 3-0.

With the win, West improves to 6-1 on the season, and increases their winning streak to six.

They’ll resume district play in Dandridge next Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., where they’ll look to bolster their undefeated district resume against a Jefferson County squad who has struggled in the early stages of this season.

“I think that my goal is just to go game by game, set by set, and not take anything or anybody for granted,” Evans said.

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