Fire alarm can’t derail Alcoa volleyball win
By Will Estep | (sports@thedailytimes.com)
A fire alarm couldn’t stop the Alcoa volleyball team Tuesday night.
The Lady Tornadoes returned to the court after a halt in the action due to the interrupting fire alarm and picked up a district win over Kingston 25-8, 25-10, 23-25, 25-3.
“It’s always good to get a win,” Alcoa coach Sam Thomas said. “It’s a little frustrating in that I don’t feel like we came out very focused after the delay outside, especially our bench players.”
Alcoa (8-11, 2-0 District 4-AA) won the first two sets over district-rival Kingston and held the visitors to a combined 18 points in those sets as Alcoa finished with a service percentage of 95.8 percent in its second district match of the season.
Then the fire alarm went off in Alcoa High School. After the Lady Tornadoes captured the first point of the third set, everyone had to evacuate the building for the next 30 minutes for a rare occurrence.
“I have never had a delay like that,” Thomas said. “I have never had a match interrupted due to a fire (alarm) as long as I have been coach at Alcoa.”
Once players, officials and fans were back in the building, Kingston managed to force a fourth set. Thomas wasn’t pleased with how his team came out after the delay in the third set, but liked the effort in the fourth and final set that Alcoa won 25-3.
“I was very pleased with my starters,” Thomas said of the fourth set. “I challenged them to go out there and take care of business and they did. I mean, they held them to three points, so that was a good response by my starters.”
Alcoa seniors Tiffanie Moore and Kati Townsend each helped lead their team to a victory against Kingston. Moore finished with a team-high 28 assists to go along with her 23 points and four aces. Townsend also did her part by finishing with six kills and six digs. Moore was glad to get the win but wanted to see her team finish without losing a set.
“It was a little encouraging,” Moore said of the Alcoa victory. “I think that with trying to place ourself in the district that we have to compete every set. Not just every match, but every set. So, dropping that one set was upsetting.”
Kingston trailed in the third set 8-1, but the Roane County school forced a comeback in the set behind the play of Jenny Parrish and Casey Hurley. Both had a streak of seven-straight serves in the third set as they made their comeback. Alcoa led 22-21 in the third set until Kingston made another comeback to pick up a 25-23 set victory, before Alcoa took out its frustrations in the fourth set.
The loss snapped a two-match losing streak for the Lady Tornadoes as they were never challenged in their three winning sets with Maggie Roark producing for Alcoa with 16 points and six aces.
Alcoa travels to CAK Thursday for a 5 p.m. match.
