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NEW TAZEWELL – Grainger played seven volleyball matches over a three day span last week but they didn’t seem to have any residual effects until late when they traveled to Claiborne on Tuesday night.

After winning the first two games easily, the Lady Grizzlies had to fight off a furious Lady Bulldog rally to take the third game and the match 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 26-24).

“This was a slower paced game and sometimes we get caught up in watching when it’s not moving as fast as some of the other games we have played,” Lady Grizzlies head coach Jessica Maxey said. “Once we can find our rhythm, we can get going.”

The first game was close early as the Lady Grizzlies only led 12-8 before reeling off eight straight points to pull away. Claiborne wasn’t able to mount a rally in the 25-11 setback. In the second game, Grainger seized control early and won by the same score as game one, 25-11. It was in the third game where the Lady Bulldogs made things interesting. It appeared Grainger had the game in hand when they built an 18-12 lead but the home team kept chipping away and later took their first lead of the entire match at 23-22. The Lady Grizz were able to control things the rest of the way in getting the hard-fought 26-24 win in the third set to win the match.

Maxey said she attempted something different in the third game but it didn’t turn out the way she had hoped. “We tried a different rotation just to see what it would look like and if it would have a possibility of working but it was clear it didn’t work and we went back to the original rotation.”

“The third game was more indicative of how we usually play,” Claiborne head coach Todd Daugherty said of the marathon third set. “There are a lot of nerves in wanting to perform well against a good opponent like Grainger. It took us two sets to get over our nerves but once we did, we started playing our game and the third set was not surprising. It wasn’t a fluke, it’s how we play, how we practice and it’s just a matter of getting over the hump to see we can compete with these teams. We had a conversation in the locker room of how if we could deliver the way we usually do, this will give us plenty of momentum going into our next game on Thursday.”

Maddie Hurst, who notched her 1000th kill in a match against Morristown West on Monday, led the team in that category again as she finished with 16 against Claiborne. She also had four assists, a block and six digs. Addison Whaley led the defense with eight digs and Adrianna Buchanan had six digs. Harlie Seibers recorded 28 assists in the Grainger victory.

Claiborne takes on Union County in their next match while Grainger faces Volunteer.