Clay Archer, Contributor
WASHINGTON C.H. — One down, many to go. But so far, so good for the Waverly Tigers.
Waverly opened its 2019 volleyball season with a clean sweep of the Washington Blue Lions, Monday evening on the road by scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-21.
Right off the bat, the Tigers (1-0) found themselves in a fight. For the majority of the first set, the two teams traded leads as no advantage grew bigger than a three-point lead. But, with the score sitting at 15-12 in the Tigers’ favor, Mattie Elliot decided to make her presence known.
The senior captain lead Waverly on a 7-0 run, extending the lead to 22-12 with a slew of well-placed serves. That scoring run helped secure a first set win by a 25-17 final.
“Honestly, when I’m out there on the court, it’s kind of hard to think,” Elliott said. “I just do it and let my muscles take over. I run on adrenaline the whole time.”
The Tigers took the seized momentum and picked up where they left off in the second set. After jumping out to a 10-5 lead, Waverly never looked back in a 25-12 set win, taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the beginning of the third and final set, it seemed like the same old song and dance for the Tigers. After jumping out to yet another early lead, it looked as though the Tigers were going to cruise to a clean sweep of the Blue Lions (0-1). But Washington senior Rayana Burns had other ideas.
Trailing 20-15, Burns spearheaded a late 5-2 run, cutting the lead to 22-20. But when that happened, Elliot and her partner in crime, Carli Knight, took the game into their own hands, putting the finishing touches on a 25-21 win.
“It feels great. We’ve had some preseason scrimmages, and we were just really excited to have a season game and show everyone what we have been working on all summer,” Elliott said.
Waverly gets back to action Tuesday evening, hosting Portsmouth West while Washington attempts to bounce back Thursday evening at Southeastern.