Bryson City – Thursday the Lady Devils fell into a 0-2 hole, thanks in large part to the solid all around play of visiting Andrews. The Wildcats controlled the action coasting to easy 25-14 and 25-15 in the first two games. But just as it looked as though Andrews would pick up their first conference win the Lady Devils picked themselves up and went to work, taking the next three games by the scores of 25-13, 25-20 and 15-10 to take the match 3-2.
Swain’s hitting attack sputtered over the first two games, producing more errors (15) than kills (7). But over the next three games the Lady Devils had 17 kills to only 13 errors.
No one personified that turn around more than sophomore Taylor Collins. Over the first two games Collins was a forgotten player, with only 2 hitting attempts, exactly half as many as libero Alissa Smith. Once the offense found Collins she delivered, in a big way. Collins tallied 10 kills over the next three sets, including 4 big kills in the fifth set. It was her aggressiveness that changed the tone of the match for the Lady Devils.
Senior Grace Cabe also had big numbers in the Lady Devils final 3 sets, as she tallied 6 kills, 3 aces and a huge block to end game 4. Cabe finished with a team high 12 kills. Ashton Younce had 12 assists, while Makayla Riordan added 11. Kenzie Eagleman and Mae Duncan provided a spark off the bench for Swain as Eagleman had 4 aces from the service line, and Duncan added 3 aces.
With the win the Lady Devils move to 7-2 on the season and 2-1 in Smoky Mountain Conference play.