WADESBORO — The Anson High School Lady Bearcats did not marinate on their recent conference loss for long after a bounce-back seep of Forest Hills last Thursday.
After opening the week with a loss to undefeated Rocky River Conference foe West Stanly, Anson rebounded with a sweep of its own over Forest Hills last Thursday.
“We started out really strong (against West Stanly). We just had a couple of bad things. We were up mentally, because we only lost (the first set) by five. I think we just had a couple of things not go our way, and it threw us off a bit,” Anson coach Patty Livingston said.
The Lady Bearcats fell 25-20, 25-15 and 25-15. Middle hitter Alena Baxter had a team-leading 8 kills, followed by outside hitter Brooklyn Miles with 3, then middle hitter Eva Hyatt and outside hitter Allie Steagall, who each had a pair of kills. Defensively, libero Hannah Austin had a team-leading 17 digs, followed by Steagall (9) , defensive specialist Sophia Yang and Miles, who each had 6. Miles also had a team-leading 4 blocks.
“They’ll be fine. They’ll be good. It was good practice (against West Stanly) to play somebody of that caliber. We’ll be that much better tomorrow (against Forest Hills),” Livingston said.
Livingston’s prediction Wednesday turned into reality Thursday as the Lady Bearcats demolished the Lady Yellow Jackets 25-12, 25-8 and 25-23. Hyatt had a team-leading 6 kills, but there was no true standout as outside hitter Gretchen Henry, Miles, and Baxter each had 5 kills. Livingston feels impressed by the play of Baxter, who joined the team late due to just moving into the district. Despite joining a crew with chemistry developed while playing summer league volleyball, the 6-foot baxter made herself right at home.
“She has been an asset to us,” Livingston said.
While kills draw cheers from the crowd, aces played a large part in last Thursday’s victory with Miles sending 10 to the floor from the baseline, followed by Baxter (5) and Steagall (2). Defensively, Austin had 14 digs, followed by Steagall (8) and Miles (5). With the win, Anson improves to 9-4 (5-2) with a slew of non-conference games against Piedmont (4-9), Chesterfield (4-3) and Central Academy (5-10) before getting their second shot at knocking off conference foe Parkwood (10-4, 5-1) Monday
“I feel pretty good (about the team overall). We lost a really close game to Parkwood, which was a conference game. If we can get them the next time we see them. I think we should be fine,” Livingston said.