Undefeated SHAC Champions!
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Thirteen wins and no losses in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference had never been achieved before in Fairfield Lady Lions program history. That was until Tuesday night at Grandle Gymnasium, when the Lady Lions defeated the visiting Fayetteville Lady Rockets in three sets.
Fairfield dominated the conference match with scores of 25-6, 25-17 and 25-14 en route to not only winning the Division II SHAC championship, but gaining the gold volleyball with the victory as the Lady Lions finished 13-0 in conference play.
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“This match wasn’t too bad, and the girls played very, very smart and we didn’t make too many mistakes,” Fairfield head coach Lesley Hattan said. “We played pretty clean. The second set, we started off a little slow, but other than that, the girls played pretty darn well the whole time.”
Coach Hattan also spoke about winning the SHAC championship with an undefeated record.
“The girls are extremely proud of themselves, and they’ve worked so hard for it. They deserve it,” Hattan said. “For me, it hasn’t sunk in yet. We were almost done with the third set, and I was like, ‘Oh wait, we are about to win.’”
The match on Tuesday also saw senior Kami Magee earn her 1,000th career assist, coming in the same season she earned her 500th assist as Magee now has over 500 assists this season alone to gain the achievement.
“She was close to 500 assists when the season began, then last week I was adding up stats and I was like ‘oh my gosh, is this for real?’ She almost had 500 for this season, so I couldn’t believe it,," Hattan said. "The hitting has been a lot more consistent than it has been the past few years, so that helps her out tremendously. We are proud of her accomplishment.”
Fairfield now has won a SHAC volleyball championship on four occasions in school history with the first three titles coming in 2004, 2005 and 2011.
Going undefeated in the conference wasn’t a goal to start the season, but winning a conference championship was. The goal of going undefeated in SHAC play came later in the season.
“The undefeated record didn’t really come at the start of the season, but we did talk about being league champs,” Hattan said. “Once we had played everyone once, we kind of thought, ‘wow, we might be able to do this.’
“This is special for the seniors. They are so excited and have played the game all four years. They haven’t had a whole lot of success with it, so I’m very glad for them they get to finish with a successful season.”
The first set against Fayetteville saw the Lady Lions take a 7-1 lead, forcing the Lady Rockets to call a timeout. From there, a kill by senior Kaiti White gave Fairfield an 8-1 lead, and later they held a 10-3 advantage with a point from sophomore Layla Hattan.
The set continued with an ace by White and a kill from junior Ally Davis for a 15-3 lead, then the lead eventually went to 18-5 with a kill by freshman Emma Fouch. The Lady Rockets called a timeout after FHS took a 14-point lead at 19-5.
Points then were scored by Hattan and junior Taylor Lawson, building a lead of 22-5. Fairfield’s final three points came off points at the net from Magee, an out-of-play hit by Fayetteville and the 25th point of set one came with an ace from Magee.
The second set was much closer with the score being tied six times at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 11-11, 12-12 and 16-16 with help from scoring by Hattan and Gracie Lawson, and the score was tied at 16 with a kill from Magee.
Fairfield took the set-two lead with points from Hattan, and then points by Taylor Lawson and sophomore Jaden Smith for a 24-16 advantage as the Lady Lions scored nine straight points. The final point for Fairfield in the set gave them a 25-17 win.
The third and final set saw the Lady Lions never trail, though it was tied at 1-1 early on. Magee began the set with an ace, and later White added a point for what was a 4-1 lead. Senior Lauren Arnold followed with an ace to make it a 7-2 score, and later White pushed the lead to five points at 8-3.
When the score went to 13-5, the match was stopped to honor the 1,000th career assist achievement of Magee. As the third set went on, Gracie Lawson scored a point at the net, and following serves by Arnold, the Lady Lions led by a 20-9 score.
Fairfield scored their 22nd point with a block by Magee, and the 24th point came with the help of an out-of-play serve by Fayetteville. The perfect season was clinched with a kill from Hattan for the 25-14 set three win.
Members of the 2018 SHAC-undefeated Lady Lions team include: Lauren Arnold, Caitlin Campbell, Emma Fouch, Megan Crum, Morgan Sheridan, Madison Bronner, Kami Magee, Layla Hattan, Braylynn Haines, Ally Davis, Jaden Smith, Saylor Priest, Kaiti White, Taylor Lawson and Gracie Lawson.
“This team has been amazing to coach,” Hattan said. “They are a great group of girls.”
Fairfield dominated the conference match with scores of 25-6, 25-17 and 25-14 en route to not only winning the Division II SHAC championship, but gaining the gold volleyball with the victory as the Lady Lions finished 13-0 in conference play.
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“This match wasn’t too bad, and the girls played very, very smart and we didn’t make too many mistakes,” Fairfield head coach Lesley Hattan said. “We played pretty clean. The second set, we started off a little slow, but other than that, the girls played pretty darn well the whole time.”
Coach Hattan also spoke about winning the SHAC championship with an undefeated record.
“The girls are extremely proud of themselves, and they’ve worked so hard for it. They deserve it,” Hattan said. “For me, it hasn’t sunk in yet. We were almost done with the third set, and I was like, ‘Oh wait, we are about to win.’”
The match on Tuesday also saw senior Kami Magee earn her 1,000th career assist, coming in the same season she earned her 500th assist as Magee now has over 500 assists this season alone to gain the achievement.
“She was close to 500 assists when the season began, then last week I was adding up stats and I was like ‘oh my gosh, is this for real?’ She almost had 500 for this season, so I couldn’t believe it,," Hattan said. "The hitting has been a lot more consistent than it has been the past few years, so that helps her out tremendously. We are proud of her accomplishment.”
Fairfield now has won a SHAC volleyball championship on four occasions in school history with the first three titles coming in 2004, 2005 and 2011.
Going undefeated in the conference wasn’t a goal to start the season, but winning a conference championship was. The goal of going undefeated in SHAC play came later in the season.
“The undefeated record didn’t really come at the start of the season, but we did talk about being league champs,” Hattan said. “Once we had played everyone once, we kind of thought, ‘wow, we might be able to do this.’
“This is special for the seniors. They are so excited and have played the game all four years. They haven’t had a whole lot of success with it, so I’m very glad for them they get to finish with a successful season.”
The first set against Fayetteville saw the Lady Lions take a 7-1 lead, forcing the Lady Rockets to call a timeout. From there, a kill by senior Kaiti White gave Fairfield an 8-1 lead, and later they held a 10-3 advantage with a point from sophomore Layla Hattan.
The set continued with an ace by White and a kill from junior Ally Davis for a 15-3 lead, then the lead eventually went to 18-5 with a kill by freshman Emma Fouch. The Lady Rockets called a timeout after FHS took a 14-point lead at 19-5.
Points then were scored by Hattan and junior Taylor Lawson, building a lead of 22-5. Fairfield’s final three points came off points at the net from Magee, an out-of-play hit by Fayetteville and the 25th point of set one came with an ace from Magee.
The second set was much closer with the score being tied six times at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 11-11, 12-12 and 16-16 with help from scoring by Hattan and Gracie Lawson, and the score was tied at 16 with a kill from Magee.
Fairfield took the set-two lead with points from Hattan, and then points by Taylor Lawson and sophomore Jaden Smith for a 24-16 advantage as the Lady Lions scored nine straight points. The final point for Fairfield in the set gave them a 25-17 win.
The third and final set saw the Lady Lions never trail, though it was tied at 1-1 early on. Magee began the set with an ace, and later White added a point for what was a 4-1 lead. Senior Lauren Arnold followed with an ace to make it a 7-2 score, and later White pushed the lead to five points at 8-3.
When the score went to 13-5, the match was stopped to honor the 1,000th career assist achievement of Magee. As the third set went on, Gracie Lawson scored a point at the net, and following serves by Arnold, the Lady Lions led by a 20-9 score.
Fairfield scored their 22nd point with a block by Magee, and the 24th point came with the help of an out-of-play serve by Fayetteville. The perfect season was clinched with a kill from Hattan for the 25-14 set three win.
Members of the 2018 SHAC-undefeated Lady Lions team include: Lauren Arnold, Caitlin Campbell, Emma Fouch, Megan Crum, Morgan Sheridan, Madison Bronner, Kami Magee, Layla Hattan, Braylynn Haines, Ally Davis, Jaden Smith, Saylor Priest, Kaiti White, Taylor Lawson and Gracie Lawson.
“This team has been amazing to coach,” Hattan said. “They are a great group of girls.”