By Chad Stack
Sports Writer
The Lady Yellow Jackets beat Tuscola and Smoky Mountain before falling to Franklin High School on Thursday, Aug. 18 at the Hive.
After a 2-0 start to the season, the Hayesville volleyball team hosted the Franklin High School Lady Panthers Thursday night. The Lady Yellow Jackets started the first set off with an 8-5 lead over the Lady Panthers, but Franklin battled back to take a 9-8 lead over the Lady Jackets.
After a lot of back and forth, the Panthers took a 22-19 lead forcing Hayesville Volleyball Coach Tammy Dills to call a time-out. With the timeout giving the Jackets a chance to regroup, they cut the Panthers' lead down to 22-20. However, the Panthers seemed to be too much for the Jackets in the first set and they lost 25-21.
After dropping the first set, the Jackets came out strong taking a 5-1 lead over the Panthers. Both teams battled throughout the second match, but Hayesville continued to hold a 19-16 lead over the Panthers.
When the Jackets extended that lead to 24-16, it forced Franklin to call a time-out.
Following their time-out, the Panthers went on a 4-0 run cutting the Jackets' lead back to 24-20. The Jackets scored their 25th point defeating the Panthers 25-20 in the second set to tie things up at one each.
Much like the first two sets, the Jackets started strong and took a 6-2 lead over Franklin to start the third set. The Panthers battled back and took an 8-7 lead over Hayesville in the third set.
The Jackets fought and kept things tight in the third set tying things up at 19 and even taking a 21-19 lead. After more back and forth the Panthers would take a 24-23 lead over the Jackets in the third set. Only needing 1 point to win the third set, the Panthers defeated Hayesville 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead over the Jackets.
Down two sets to one, the Yellow Jackets needed a win in the fourth set to keep things going, but the Panthers proved to be too much defeating Hayesville 25-17 giving the Jackets their first loss of the season.
After falling to Franklin, the Jackets traveled to Waynesville to take on Tuscola on Monday, Aug. 22. The Jackets defeated the Tuscola Lady Mountaineers Monday night in four sets.
Hayesville reporting scores
Smoky Mountain vs. Hayesville
Tuesday Aug. 16
23-25 SM
26-24 H
25-19 H
25-17 H
Highlights/Stats
• Anneliese Scheu - 9 kills and 4 digs.
• Madison Moore - 7 kills, 3 digs and 3 blocks.
• Mallory Peck - 5 kills, 7 digs and 3 blocks.
• Emma Shook - 5 kills, 3 aces, 24 digs, 23 assist and 3 blocks.
• Phoebe Pietila - 31 digs.
JV vs Smoky
25-16 H
25-19 H
• Bryliegh Krieger - 4 kills, 5 aces, 3 digs and 1 block.
• Olivia Giddens - 3 kills, 5 aces and 3 digs.
• Ava Shook - 2 kills, 3 aces and 3 digs.
The Lady Yellow Jackets Junior Varsity are also 4-1 on the season and both teams took to the road Tuesday, Aug. 23, traveling to Hiawassee Dam after presstime.