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It takes a big moment to overshadow a performance like Morristown West turned in against Grainger on Monday night, and Maddie Hurst delivered one.

The senior recorded her 1000th kill for the Lady Grizzlies in the third set, her 13th on the night.

West went on to win the match, 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-16). 

Hurst turned in impressive numbers during her 2022 All-State campaign. She put up 868 kills, 291 digs and 277 assists to go along with her 63 service aces and 91 blocks. Hurst averaged 10.4 blocks and 9.4 kills and only had 10 ball handling errors and eight receiving errors all season long.

Entering Monday night’s matchup, she had 200 kills on the season, 23 serving aces and 33 blocks to date.

In addition to her volleyball prowess, Hurst is an impressive basketball player. Among other accolades, she was a part of the 21-22 state-runner up Lady Grizzy squad.

On the West side, many Lady Trojans turned in impressive performances, but it was Emma Long’s nine kills that really stood out.

“Emma had an awesome night tonight, she was killin’ it,” West head coach Lacey Price Evans said. “It was pretty awesome to see how well she hit the ball tonight.”

Aubrie Messer turned in nine kills, two solo blocks and five digs, Haley Cabe turned in six aces, 11 digs and eight kills, and Emma Miller contributed 21 assists, two aces and five digs.

The Lady Trojans won each of their three sets in deciding fashion, whereas in many earlier matches this season they’ve let teams claw their way back after building sizable leads.

“I thought we came out tonight ready to play, I was very proud of how we performed,” Evans said. “We were able to streamline a good game overall, when we made mistakes we were able to shake it off and keep going.”

The first set, however, started tightly contested. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead off a kill from Haley Cabe, then 12-7 off a kill from Cabe as well, the set sat knotted at 14. –

An ace from Messer made it 19-15, then a kill from Delaney Weddington made it 24-18. The Lady Trojans took set one 25-18.

In the second set, West jumped out to a commanding 9-1 lead, but Hurst had other plans. She recorded kills or aces on six of the next nine points, bringing the score to 11-8.

West ended the set on a 14-8 run, however, taking it 25-16.

The third set brought with it perhaps the least parity of any, with zero ties or lead changes. There was a break in play at 19-15 to commemorate the moment for Hurst.

“This moment means a lot. I’ve played since I was in middle school, so I never thought I’d love the game like I do. I mean, I grew up playing basketball so it’s a new love and I’m excited to take it to Carson Newman next year, so I’m really happy. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”

Grainger resumes district play against Claiborne next Tuesday, at 6:00 p.m. on the road.

West moves on to host Sevier County next Thursday.

“I thought tonight set us up well for our Sevier County matchup. We’ll be at home and I look forward to another conference matchup.”