Upchurch believes Lady Jackets grew as team during the season
It was a season of ups and downs for the Starkville High School volleyball team.
Sometimes through adversity a team grows closer together and that was the case for the Lady Yellow Jackets in the mind of senior Abbigail Upchurch.
After Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Grace Christian, it was emotional for Upchurch because she realizes there won’t be a next time to step on the court with her teammates.
“I’m really upset,” Upchurch said. “I’m going to miss everybody. This was probably my favorite team at Starkville High. We really are more of a team and I’m going to miss them a lot.”
Starkville finished the regular season with a twomatch winning streak by beating Kosciusko on Monday and Grace Christian.
The Lady Jackets lost a tough five-set match at Tupelo last Thursday so that meant they wouldn’t make the playoffs this year, but were able to finish the season strong.
Grace Christian was able to take a tight 27-25 win in the second set, but Starkville the others at 2522 in sets one and four and 25-8 in set five.
Upchurch closed out her career with a team-high nine kills for the Lady Jackets, while Mallory Williams had 20 digs and Zariyah Edwards contributed eight blocks.
SHS celebrated senior night and recognized Upchurch, Roniyah Campbell and Destiny Carter prior to the varsity match.
Head coach Sierra Pittman values what each senior brought to the Lady Jackets.
“Carter has never played setter before,” Pittman said. “Before she made the team this year, I basically said, ‘I need you to play this,’ and she has really overcome that so I’m really proud of her. This is the first year playing for Roniyah Campbell. She did well from her first year. Her arm sling is what’s helped. Upchurch has been my pride and joy. She is definitely helped this team.”