In case you didn’t know, Paris is the defending state champions in class 3A volleyball, and it doesn’t look like they are ready to relinquish the title anytime soon. The Lady Eagles (4-0, 2-0) came out and looked like state champions on Thursday night with an impressive 3-0 sweep of Charleston (4-1, 1-1).
Paris coach Jordan Devine was giddy over her team’s performance. “I was really proud of them. There was nothing that any of us coaches said to them. It was the girls being dialed in with one goal and they made it happen. We have two sophomores on the outside, one sophomore in the middle, a senior in the middle, and a senior on the right side. I was real proud of the young ones stepping up and getting it done. It’s a huge front line. A lot of it tonight was the opponent on the floor. It’s a big rival for us, because, if you watched us Tuesday, we didn’t look like this. So, it’s a testament to them, keeping them focused, especially against a team like this. It doesn’t take much against a team like Charleston, a good team too.”
Not many teams have beaten or will beat Paris this year. As was mentioned earlier, the good news is the Lady Tigers will not face anyone as tough as Paris for the remainder of the season. But to a proud group of Lady Tigers, Coach Ryan Rachuy put this loss on his shoulders, not his players. “The program here (Paris) is amazing. The coaching that goes on here is amazing. The support they have here is amazing. They executed almost flawlessly. I’m not going to take anything away from them. We had some unforced errors that we have to overcome. But really, tonight it is about me. I have to do a better job preparing my girls. I have to get my girls ready to go out there and play at that height. That means pushing them in practice, being sure that we have a good idea of what is going on out there, and that’s on me. I did a poor job of getting ready for Paris. So, this is a coaching thing.”
Charleston suffered sweep loses in each of its junior high, senior high junior varsity, and varsity matches. It was a tough night on the road playing perhaps the best volleyball program in Arkansas. Not many schools have had success against the Lady Eagles.
The silver lining for Charleston is simple. It is early in the season, and as bad as it felt on Thursday night, the Lady Tigers have plenty in front of them to play for. After having played just one home match all season, Charleston will return home for two home matches next week before going on the road again to West Fork next Thursday. The team is playing for an all important high seed in the district tournament at the end of the season. It will have a return engagement in Charleston with the Lady Eagles later in the season. Looking down the road, if Charleston qualifies for the state tournament, the first three rounds of state will be played in Paris. So for the Lady Tigers, they gained valuable experience Thursday night in Paris that could payoff at the end of the season.
It was a tough night for Charleston. Paris looked like true state champions. But now, it is time to move on and focus on next week’s opponents. The Lady Tigers still have everything in front of them if they want to accomplish their goals for this season.
