Lady Phoenix see season end in Final Four
The Sonoraville Lady Phoenix’s volleyball team played at Westminster on Saturday in the Final Four of the GHSA Class AAA State Volleyball Championship Tournament. Unfortunately for the Lady Phoenix, Sonoraville fell to the Lady Wildcats 3-0 by set scores of 25-13, 2516 and 25-11.
Sonoraville coach Trace Vaughn shared his thoughts about the match.
“Unfortunately, we did not come out and play our best game this weekend,” Vaughn said. “We met up with a team that was a little bit better than us. You’ve got to hand it to them. They played really well. We just had an off day on a day in which we really needed to play our best to compete with them.”
Despite the loss, the Sonoraville volleyball team has a lot to be proud of this season. The Lady Phoenix finished with a 40-14 overall record, finished second in the region at 8-2 and had a spectacular tournament run that ended in the Final Four. Vaughn reflected on the Lady Phoenix’s special season.
“I think we played as well as we had hoped to play,” Vaughn said. “We thought at the beginning of the season that we had a shot at being in the Final Four, and we made it there. We would like to have played a little bit longer, but I am very proud of what they were able to accomplish. A 40-14 record is nothing to sneeze at. These young ladies, especially the last few weeks, have played their best ball. I am very proud of what they were able to accomplish, their display of teamwork, their fight when their backs were against the wall and some outstanding individual play along the way too. It was a fantastic season. I’m just proud to have been a part of that group.”
Sonoraville will graduate a record-breaking senior class consisting of five players in Megan Grantham, Raleigh Hooper, Abby Chambers, Amber Sparkman and Gracyn Thompson. Vaughn said their departures will hurt but is excited about the future of his volleyball program.
“It’s a large group,” Vaughn said. “We’re going to be missing a huge piece of our squad after this season. Raleigh (Hooper) and Abby (Chambers) were four-year starters, and that’s huge. They were both very big contributors as were the whole group. All the seniors really played vital roles for
us this season, so that’s definitely going to be hard to overcome next year. At the same
time, we have a sophomore class that’s extremely talented. We got a group of freshman that are very solid. I understand we have some eighth graders coming up that are very good too. As much as we hate to lose these girls, it looks like we’re just reloading and going at it again.