By Jeff Odom
Between pregame trash talk on social media and the back-and-forth shouting between fans throughout the contest, there was still a volleyball match to be played at Wharton Oct. 9.
The Wildcats (22-1) decided that part of the show with their defense, sweeping cross-town rival Freedom 25-9, 25-16, 25-14.
“Our defense and our serving was just on point, and we kind of just controlled the flow of the game and never really let them into it,” said Wharton coach Eric Barber.
The Patriots (12-6) were overwhelmed from the start by the roar of Wharton’s cheering section — The Blue Crew.
The vociferous students in blue prevented communication between Freedom’s players, which led to multiple errors and slowed its offense.
The Wildcats ran off 10 straight points in the first on senior outside hitter Caci Andreychuk’s (17 kills, nine digs, two aces) service rotation to go ahead 12-3 en route to dominating the opening set.
While the Wharton offense was on point, the defense stopped the Patriots from scoring. The Wildcats limited Freedom’s top scorer, senior outside hitter Jasmyn Perry, to just six kills.
While Freedom was shaken by the atmosphere, Andreychuk said she ignored the barbs thrown by the Patriots’ equally loud cheering section.
“It was definitely a big crowd,” Andreychuk said. “It was definitely motivational.”
Wharton shut the door again in the second set as senior setter and Furman University commit Ashton Stoker (five kills, 25 assists), along with freshman libero Chanelle Hargreaves (13 digs) and Andreychuk (nine digs), carried the Wildcats to another convincing victory.
Freedom was able to keep the second set close in the middle, but Wharton took nine of the final 12 points.
Both sides of the gym bleachers got testy with one another in the final set as Wharton brought out the brooms and began shouting “undefeated” to the silenced Patriots crowd. Freedom looked competitive enough to force a fourth set, but the Wildcats dashed those hopes by scoring 15 of the final 19 points.
“They were loud,” Barber said. “I thought they did a great job in that first (set). I thought we were playing at Freedom. It was so loud over here. I just told the girls, ‘One thing we can do over the season is improve our mental toughness,’ and they were able to push through that crowd noise and get a great win for us.”
Wharton rode the momentum into its contest at Bloomingdale Oct. 11. The Wildcats won the contest 25-13, 25-27, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12 to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Class 8A-District 7 tournament.
Freedom was not as fortunate in its Class 7A-District 9 finale at home against Wiregrass Ranch, falling 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 15-12. The loss makes the Patriots the No. 3 seed in 7A-9, while the Bulls (15-5) are the No. 2.
Wharton travels to Strawberry Crest Oct. 17, while Freedom travels to Sickles Oct. 18. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
The 8A-7 tournament is at Durant Oct. 23 to 25, with the final Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. The 7A-9 tournament is at Gaither Oct. 22 to 25, with the championship game Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.
