FARMINGTON -- The plan was to concentrate on serving to a particular spot of the volleyball court and Farmington (5-12-1) accomplished that well enough to defeat Clarksville (25-14, 25-8, 25-17) on Oct. 3.
The rotation has changed this season with coach Marshall Ward switching offenses from the 5-1 he has run in the past.
"We're running a 6-2 this year, that eats up a lot of subs fast," Ward said. "When you run out, you can't sub anymore."
The other team dynamic that is drastically different from 2016 is the presence of only four seniors on the roster. The bulk of the squad is made up of 8 sophomores, who according to Ward must learn to assert themselves.
"We have young kids, we're starting five sophomores on varsity," Ward said. "The last five years I started two, maybe three tenth-graders. To have five tenth-graders starting, doing their job well is a pleasant surprise."
Among the group, Madison Holliman starts at center, Kally Stout at right hitter, Brittany Pittman at middle hitter, Madison Lovell at defensive specialist and Paige Anderson also at defensive specialist on the back row.
Coming into the match against winless Clarksville, Ward sought to polish the serving aspect and there was some success. Stout's ace put the Lady Cardinals ahead, 19-10, in the first set. A kill by senior middle hitter Ella Wilson got Farmington to 21, then came a mini 4-0 run by Clarksville before senior Camryn Journagan's ace finished the set. Farmington won 25-14.
"We were also trying some placement serves," Ward said. "We missed some short. We missed some long. We were trying to hit really aggressive serves. The more aggressive you get with any shot, there is more opportunity to have error there."
Holiman and senior Kaydyn Truitt served aces, then Anderson reeled off 4 aces as Farmington jumped all over the Lady Panthers in the second set and got off to a 20-2 lead. Stout's kill brought the Lady Cardinals to game-point at 24-7 and they won 25-8 on Anthea Jones' kill.
The Lady Cardinals pulled away from a 4-5 deficit in the third set with 5 straight points courtesy of Clarksville errors. The Lady Panthers were still hanging around trailing 12-9 and 18-15 on Johanna Rodriguez' kill, but gave up three consecutive point on miscues. Farmington arrived at game-point leading 24-17 on a Clarksville service error and won on a long hit.
The Lady Cardinals host 5A West foe Harrison on Thursday in their final home match of the season. Senior night begins at 5 p.m. at Cardinal Arena.
Sports on 10/11/2017