Harrison doesn't 'fold' and tops Newnan 3-0 on senior night
The Harrison Hoyas volleyball team are just a few matches away from closing out the regular season and heading into their region tournament as the number one seed, which they have not done since the 2018 season and on Tuesday, celebrated their senior night with a 3-0 win over Newnan.
“We’re just coming off a fall break so it was nice to come out here and play as clean as we could, but just to get the win, it was nice on senior night,” Harrison head coach, Kristina Johnson, a Harrison alum and in her first season as the Hoyas’ head coach, said after Tuesday’s win.
The senior night victory helped the Hoyas improve to 22-11 on the season and extended their current win streak to seven matches in a row, which is their longest stretch of consecutive wins of the season, however, Newnan gave the Hoyas a challenge throughout the match as they had to come from behind in all three sets, including an early 5-0 deficit in set three.
“It’s definitely a mentality that we’ve been trying to establish this year of just continue to fight and that the game’s never over,” Johnson said of watching her team overcome trailing Newnan through the night. “I’m really proud. I feel like they’ve grown this year lot in terms of learning how to battle back and to not fold,” Johnson added.
Now with just two regular season games remaining before the Hoyas get their region tournament started as the number one seed, Johnson says leaving a “legacy” has been part of the inspiration for her players which has fueled their season “and that every time they step out onto the court, they’re proud to represent this school, to be a Hoya and I’m just really proud of the progress they’ve made and the mentality that they’re really adapting in terms of who we are as Harrison volleyball,” Johnson said.
And while the Hoyas would like to capture their first state title since winning back to back in 2016 and 2017, Johnson says they must take care of the business that is immediately in front of them as they prepare for the region tournament, which she believes some may consider them an “underdog”, however it is up to them to prove otherwise.
“I think that if people were betting, they’re still on an opponent of ours and so our first priority is region and then from there we’ll focus on state,” Johnson said. The Hoyas will close out their regular season with next Tuesday when they host the Kell Longhorns.
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