By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Wrapping up a 25-10 first set victory Aug. 24 in the William Osteen Gymnasium, the Munford Lady Cougars and senior leader Jordan Moore started to grab all there materials to switch sides.
Then reality hit the girls that they would only play on one side of the court the entire night. In her first three seasons of varsity volleyball, Moore was used to swapping side after each set, sharing paraphernalia from her bag with teammates and locking arms on the bench during a rally.
But the current global pandemic has put her senior season in jeopardy and changed the rules of engagement during a contest.
“It is so weird because once we finish that first set, we wanted to switch sides,” Moore acknowledged. “But we’re stuck on one side. ‘What do we do now?’ It’s so weird but we’re just happy to be out here playing.”
Moore, who was known as a power-hitting front row player as a freshman to her junior year, worked on her overall game during the early part of 2020. She improved her serving, digging and back row play.
“It’s been really hard with everything,” she acknowledged. “Senior year and we don’t know if we’re going to get a whole season or not. With all of this going on, we’ve been practicing the new rules, keeping social distance, trying the best we can to improve.
“As for myself, I’ve been working on passing, just being able to play all around now,” Moore continued. “That’s the main thing I want to work on now. Every day just keep pushing myself and my team so we can keep succeeding.”
Munford succeed against rival Millington in a three set victory 25-10, 25-5 and 25-6. The Lady Cougars jumped ahead 7-2 in the first set with Moore doing what she does best. The senior slapped down a couple of spikes.
The Lady Trojans rallied to make the score 9-6 with Ally Marona scoring on a jump-serve with an ace. Then the Lady Cougars surged ahead 13-6 behind the serving of Brianna Bounds.
Later in the first frame, Munford sent Corbin Michael behind the serving line. She tallied the close out points giving the Lady Cougars the 25-10 win.
In the second set Lady Cougars like Emily Cox, Riley Baskin and Bounds were flying all over the court returning the ball over the net forcing Millington miscues. The second set starting off 5-3 quickly ballooned into a 19-4 Munford advantage.
In the middle of that stretch, Moore executed a spike so fierce the Lady Trojan defense exercised social distancing from the laser. Another highlight came from Baskin with her tip making the score 24-5. Munford prevailed 25-5 to enter the third and final set.
The final frame started off with the Lady Cougars ahead 20-2 with Baskins serving up ace after ace. When the ball didn’t directly hit the floor from Baskin’s serving, Moore was at the net blocking and executing tips. The Lady Cougars won the third set by 19 points.
“We came in knowing this could be a tough game,” Moore said. “We knew we had to play to our level and do what we know to do. We’re just trying to get better day by day. We did have some points they did get us on. We’ve got to clean those things up. Once we see them get that point, what do we have to do to get better? We have to make those changes.”
With so many changes around everyday life and the game, Moore said she just hopes everybody follows the rules to help them reach the finish line of state in October.
“I just hope we get to finish it without anybody getting sick,” she concluded. “I just want everybody to stay healthy and have a good season. Just take it one day at a time.”
