Tupelo fights off Center Hill for playoff win
Oct. 8—TUPELO — Mental resilience has sometimes been an issue for Tupelo's volleyball team. Not on Saturday.
The Lady Wave overcame a rough second set to beat Center Hill in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs, 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16). It's the program's first playoff win in four years.
Tupelo (13-12) will travel to Hernando on Tuesday for the second round.
After the Lady Wave cruised in the first set, Center Hill found a rhythm offensively in the second. The Lady Mustangs took their first lead of the match, at 10-9, on a block by Madison Conley.
That lead increased to 17-12, but Tupelo managed to tie it at 18-18. It was 22-22 when the Lady Wave committed a service error, and Center Hill scored three of the set's last four points.
"They covered a deficit in that second set, and I thought they should have won it, but then when they didn't, they were able to reset mentally and go back to work," Tupelo coach Laurie Bishop said.
The third set was just as tight. Tupelo nearly lost a 23-18 lead, but Nisha McGaughy finished it off with one of her eight kills.
"We realized that their energy was down, and we needed to emphasize on that, and we needed to come together as a team, bring the chemistry and just bang out," McGaughy said. "Play as a team as we always do and swing away on everything."
McGaughy had a couple of kills early in the fourth set to help the Lady Wave build a 12-6 lead.
Avery Peters led Tupelo with nine kills, while Skyla Adair had seven kills and three service aces.
Shelbie Coleman and Madison Conley led Center Hill with seven kills apiece. Madison Maxwell had five kills — all in the second set.
Tupelo finished with 38 total kills, while Center Hill had 29.
"Our passers gave us good passes, our setters gave us good sets to the front row," McGaughy said. "We just found the floor and put it down."
