Lady Pirates Fall to Maclay

By: Clint Cox

Photo Caption:
Sneads Head Coach Shelia Roberts (center) tries to rally the Lady Pirates in action last Saturday at Maclay.
Photo by Clint Cox

TALLAHASSEE – The Sneads Lady Pirate’s dream of a trip to Lakeland for the FHSAA Volleyball Final Four fell short this past Saturday as they fell to Maclay 3-0 in the Region 1 Finals. A large crowd of Pirate fans traveled to Tallahassee and in fact outnumbered the Lady Marauder fans 2-1. But that was not enough as the Maclay squad rallied to win game one and then led throughout games two and three.

Game one saw the Lady Pirates come out and take a 15-10 lead. Meagan Smith and Allison McDaniel came up with a couple of kills but Maclay was slowly crawling back into the game. The Lady Marauders finally tied the game at 18-18. They then outscored Sneads 7-1 in the final stretch to take a 25-19 win. Maclay then jumped out to quick lead in game two and lead through the game. Sneads rallied a couple of times to pull within four points but the rallies could not be sustained. Maclay took game two by a score of 25-18. In game three Sneads again fell behind early, trailing by as much as 13-3. Smith came up with a tap over, a kill and then a couple of nice serves as the Lady Pirates narrowed the gap to 14-8. Maclay pushed ahead to a 20-11 lead before Kara Alford served up a couple of points to make it 20-14. But Maclay ripped off 5 straight points to take a 25-14 win in the game and a 3-0 win in the match.

Sneads finished the season with a 20-10 record and claimed back to back district championships. As disappointing as the loss to Maclay was, Head Coach Shelia Roberts said her squad should hold their heads high. "This squad took Sneads volleyball farther than they have ever gone before (Regional Finals). As much as it hurts right now, they can be proud of what they have done this year and for this program," said Roberts. She also talked of the hard work put in by this year’s team, both on the court and off the court. "I wish everybody could know how hard these ladies have worked for the past year. They trained all summer long and raised money in the heat and rain. They would come out early for practice and stay late. I am very proud of these girls and our seniors will be missed very much. We’ve got some got a lot of good juniors and sophomores as well so Sneads volleyball is looking good," commented Roberts.