Lady Devil senior volleyball players, minus manager/statistician Sarah Kolodski
Denver – The storybook ending had the Lady Devils winning a State 1A Championship, and sending Sonya Blankenship out in style. But, unfortunately, storybook endings rarely happen in life. Lincoln Charter School ended the Lady Devils dream season Saturday in the Western Regional Semi-finals by the scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 27-25.
As for sending their coach out in style, well they did, the Swain way. The Lady Devils fought, scratched, clawed, and played with every ounce of strength they had, just like they had been coached to do. I doubt there was anyway that Blankenship could have asked for more out of them or been prouder of them. The team was met with a standing ovation and a tunnel by the Maroon Nation in attendance, as was Coach Blankenship, after getting dressed following the game.
Maroon Nation forms a tunnel for the Lady Devils and Coach B, following the game
On the defensive all day long the Devils withstood a 17 kill performance from Madi NeeSmith, who was the player of the game and clearly the go to girl for Lincoln Charter. Indicative of being on the defensive the Lady Devils only managed 20 kills as a team for the 3 game set.
Lydia Sale once again paced Swain with 10 kills, Alyssa Robinson added 6 kills and 4 blocks. On the back row libero Karie Jones had a team high 21 digs, while Emily Styles added 14.
The Lady Devils finish the season with a 20-6 overall record, hitting the 20 win plateau for the 8th time in school history. Swain was also the regular season Smoky Mountain Conference Co-Champions.