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Foard downs Lady Mustangs in second round of state playoffs
SMHS's Lindsey Lewis Photo by Carey Phillips

Lindsey Lewis (10) puts down a kill in Smoky Mountain's victory over South Iredell in the state volleyball playoffs last week. Other Lady Mustangs pictured are Abbey Higgins (22), Melissa Collins (11) and Tara Green (3).

State volleyball power Foard rolled to a 15-2, 15-5, 15-4 victory over Smoky Mountain in the second round of the state 3-A playoffs last Thursday at Foard.

The Lady Mustangs ended the season 21-6.

"We were beaten by an outstanding team," Coach Cindi Simmons said. "We played hard and fought to the end. I'm real proud of this team and their continued efforts."

Foard jumped to leads of 5-0 and 14-1 in game one.

The Lady Tigers led 10-1 in game two. Cassie Proffitt scored two points cutting the gap to 11-4. It was the only time in the match SM put as many as two points together.

Melissa Collins gave SM its only lead when she served the first point of game three. Foard went up 8-2 and never looked back.

Kaitlin Ritchie had nine kills, and Collins recorded 18 assists.

Lindsey Lewis and Abbey Higgins were perfect in six and five serves, respectively. Proffitt served 90.9 percent. Team serving was 85.1 percent.

Lady Mustangs advance

Smoky Mountain rallied for an 11-15, 15-11, 15-5, 15-5 victory over South Iredell in the first round of the state 3-A volleyball playoffs Oct. 31 at the SM gym.

It was the Lady Mustangs' first win in the post season since 1996.

SM lost the first game and fell behind 10-1 in game two before outscoring the visitors 44-11 the rest of the way.

The Lady Vikings led 5-0 in game one until Tara Green served three points and Katie Loughlin had a block cutting the gap to 8-6. Two points from Lindsey Lewis and Kaitlin Ritchie's kill tied it 8-8. South Iredell used a 5-1 spurt down the stretch to clinch the game.

South appeared on its way to an easy win by bolting to leads of 8-0 and 10-1 in the second game. The match turned when Green reeled off eight straight points bringing SM within 10-9. Lewis and Loughlin both had two kills in the run while Melissa Collins had one. Collins served three points, including an ace, putting her team ahead for good 13-10. The game ended on Ritchie's ace.

The momentum carried into game three as Cassie Proffitt served the first six points with Ritchie having two kills and Green one. The Lady Mustangs slowly pulled away until Proffitt served the final two points. Green had a kill for point 14.

Five points from Green along with two blocks and a kill by Lewis put SM up 6-1 in game four. Abbey Higgins had three points and Lewis provided a kill making it 14-2. Green served the clinching point.

"South Iredell didn't make a lot of mistakes in the early going," Coach Cindi Simmons said. "Tara got us going with her serving, and we took it up a notch."

Ritchie and Lewis put down 17 and 13 kills, respectively. They both had six blocks. Green added 10 kills. Collins provided 19 assists, and Higgins had 15.

Green had 18 points while serving 95.7 percent. Proffitt followed with 11 points on 94.4 percent serving. Higgins didn't miss in 14 serves. Collins finished at 93.8 percent, and Ritchie served 90 percent. Team serving was 91.6 percent.

Back to Sports: 11/09/00.