Lady Falcons Drop First, Rally to Win Three Straight
By Tanner Marlar
UNION, Mississippi – The Ingomar Lady Falcons rallied to take three straight sets after dropping the first to the Union Yellow Jackets on Monday night.
Behind senior outside hitter Macie Phifer, the Lady Falcons punched their ticket to the vie for the State title for the third consecutive year – an impressive milestone. However, arguably more impressive is the statistical feat that Phifer managed in the 2A heavyweight bout. Phifer became one of the few Mississippi High School Activities Association players to notch 2000 kills in her career.
“[Getting to 2000] is incredible,” said Phifer after play had concluded. “Volleyball wasn’t something that I was going to play originally. It was kind of something I just picked up whenever we got it, and so the fact that I could do that is just a blessing.”
The Lady Falcons entered the matchup as MaxPreps’ sixth ranked team in the state, with Union following close behind in 14th place. The two foes met in the same postseason bracket last season in a match that ended with a similar result. Ingomar head coach Andy Wilbanks spoke about the challenge of facing a team like Union year in and year out postgame.
“We knew coming down here tonight that it was going to be a dog fight from start to finish,” said Wilbanks. “This is one of the best atmospheres that we’ve ever played in. [Union] has got a great team, solid top to bottom. They don’t mess up. They make you score the point, and at times we had trouble doing that tonight. I just think that, ultimately, it was our mindset of refusing to lose that set us apart.”
Phifer echoed the sentiment that early on, the Lady Falcons played into Union’s hands with their pace of play. Behind the words of their head coach and senior leader, the Falcons took their licking and kept on ticking.
“I told everyone it was going to be a dog fight,” said Phifer. “[Union] is a great team…We watched so much film on them. We knew what we were in for when we got down here and it’s exactly what we got, and I just told them ‘Look, we’ve won 39 games for a reason. Let’s go out here and play our game.’ I think the first set, we started playing their game.”
Now set to play for the team’s third straight state title, Wilbanks, Phifer and the rest
of the Falcons know that the road ahead only gets tougher. Ingomar will face off against the winner of St. Andrew’s and Lake for all the marbles at Mississippi College in Clinton.
“[Playing for another state title] means the world to me, especially in your senior year,” said Phifer. “That’s something that’s always in the back of your mind, you know, ‘Can we finish?’ And that’s something that coach Andy has talked about a lot to us, because we had a great group that came through, and everybody remembers how great they were, but they didn’t win their last game.”
Phifer and company go in search of just that – one last win – on October 17 in one last bout between the lines.
