Photo by Mike Maddock Hammond’s Bai ley Dukes makes a dig against Wilson Hall. SUMTER – The members of the Hammond volleyball team knew who would take the end of the season the hardest.

“You know how on Facebook, they have that space where you can describe how you’re feeling?” senior Sophia Chen said. “I’m always emotional.”

So it came as no surprise to the Skyhawks that she was the first one to shed a tear after the final point of their season–ending loss to Cardinal Newman on Saturday in the SCISA Class 3A playoffs at the Sumter Exhibition Center.

But the way Hammond (13–5) was eliminated assured that Chen wasn’t the only emotional one.

“It was clear we could have won these games,” Hammond coach Andy Edgren said of the 29–27 and 25–18 scores.

The final sequence of the first game was pivotal.

Photo by Jim Marczesky Hammond’s Sophia Chen makes a dig against Cardinal Newman. Neither team led by more than three (at 8–5). The game included 11 ties, including on points 22, 24, 26 and 27. Hammond had a serve for game–point, but netted it – one of their three netted serves after taking a 24–22 lead.

“You get into the mindset of having to hit the perfect serve instead of focusing on what you really need to do, which is put it in play,” Edgren said. “At this level and this late in the season, people on both sides are going to make mistakes.”

On the penultimate point, Hammond was called for a net violation.

“Everyone always points to the last person, but it’s not that person’s fault: It’s all of our faults,” senior Amber Bennett said. “ I missed the first (serve in the sequence). And I started the game with a bad serve, which didn’t set a good tone. It’s just as much my fault.”

Of course, as Edgren was quick to point out, Hammond would not have been playing Saturday if not for the efforts of Bennett and the team’s other two seniors—the only three players who started the season with varsity experience.

“We were seniors, but we all played only one rotation last year: One of us would serve or one would come in to block,” Bennett said. “We played, but not that much. So, we achieved a lot more than I think people thought we would.”

Hammond responded to the loss of the first game by jumping to a 5–0 lead in the second. But Cardinal Newman drew even at 9, opened a 14–10 lead and slowly inched away.

“We have a younger team, and they (the Cardinals) are very consistent,” Chen said. “When we are all playing at our best, we can beat anyone, but it’s a fight sometimes. It’s tough to beat more consistent teams that don’t have to fight to be at their best.”

Katie Cook agreed with the assessments of her fellow seniors.

“Individually, we can’t match half the teams here, but because we’re so tight as a group we were able to overachieve,” Cook said.

Among those achievements were the regular– season region co–championship (shared with Cardinal Newman and St. Joseph’s), a regular–season split with neighborhood rival Cardinal Newman (the Cardinals swept at home; the Skyhawks rallied from 2–0 down at home) and a five–match stay at the state tournament. Hammond beat Wilson Hall and Pinewood and lost to St. Joseph’s, a state semifinalist, on Thursday. Hammond beat Orangeburg Prep earlier Saturday.