The slimmest, the cruelest, of margins.
That’s all that separated Polk County Middle from a shot at playing for a Blue Ridge Conference championship. Flip a point, any point, and the Wolverines might well have been the team celebrating Wednesday evening.
Instead, Polk could only watch as Smoky Mountain Middle players hugged and squealed for joy thanks to a 25-21, 20-25, 16-14 victory in a BRC Tournament semifinal showdown at Polk.
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It’s a phrase often overused, but without doubt neither team deserved to leave Polk’s gym with a loss. It was middle school volleyball played at a high level, two evenly-matched teams battling from the outset. Neither team ever led by more than five points, and only Polk (13-2) got to that margin late in its second-set win.
The Wolverines also inched ahead 10-7 in the deciding set, but Smoky Mountain Middle (11-2) responded with a run of four straight points to take an 11-10 lead. Polk evened the score, the Mustangs pulled back in front and reached match point at 14-12.
Undeterred, Polk County rallied, Alia Vorbe delivering back-to-back kills to tie the match at 14. But a service error gave Smoky Mountain another match point, and Addy Moody’s kill found the floor to settle matters.
“Literally, they made one less mistake than we did,” said Polk Middle head coach Kenny Hall. “The girls played well. Give Smoky Mountain credit – that’s a really good team.”
The see-saw finale of the third set mirrored the pattern of the first. Polk trailed 8-5, rebounded for an 11-9 edge, then swapped points with the Mustangs until an Emily Dotson block gave the Wolverines a 20-19 advantage.
Smoky Mountain answered with a 6-2 run to close the set, grabbing a 1-0 edge.
Smoky Mountain’s sensational hitter Brynlee Gamble – “that’s one of the best middle school hitters I’ve ever seen,” Hall said – helped drive the Mustangs to an early lead in the second set. But Polk quickly found its bearings, surged in front at 5-4 and never lost the lead. Dotson’s tip of a free ball at set point led to the deciding stanza.
While Polk ended its season a match short of its goal of reaching the BRC final, the Wolverines still own an East Division title that will soon adorn the wall of the school gym.
“We’re division champions, and I told the girls they can hang their heads high,” Hall said. “They can walk into this gym any time, look up on the wall and they’ll be up there forever.”
