Lady Eagles To Host Jefferson Thursday

Thursday was a long night of volleyball for the Lady Eagles of East Jackson, as they lost to Athens Christian and Jackson County in matches that went three sets each.

Up next for the Lady Eagles is a home stand against Rabun County and West Hall on Thursday.

“We’ve got some tough competition coming up this week, but I think we’re ready for it,” said coach Tim Thomas. “We matched up very well with West Hall earlier in the season and nearly beat them. We’re hoping to give them another strong run this week, but they’re not ranked in the top 10 in AAA for nothing. We’re going to have to be at our best if we hope to repeat the performance we turned in against them a few weeks ago.”

Start time against Rabun County is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the West Hall match to follow.

Action last Thursday for East Jackson started with Athens Christian, who won the match 2-1 with set scores of 25-13, 18-25 and 23-25.

The Lady Eagles next took to the court against the Lady Panthers of Jackson County in an area match. JCCHS came away with the 1-2 victory with set scores of 23-25, 25-16 and 17-25.

The losses mean the Lady Eagles are now 5-9 overall and winless in area competition.

“We lost two more in three sets, bringing our total for the season to five,” Thomas said. “It’s obviously frustrating to know we could be sitting at 10-4 right now instead of 5-9, but we have to remember that
the ability to be competitive with everyone this year is a huge step forward for our program.”

Last year, the Lady Eagles only scored in the 20s 23 times. So far this year, they’ve scored in the 20s 24 times, with the season not even at the halfway mark.

Thomas pointed to the strong performances by his three seniors during the night. Brittany Smith returned after a 10-day layoff due to an elbow injury, and worked in various roles on the court throughout the night. Kiersten Meehan and Jenna Dukes also turned in consistent performances.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.