Mauney leads Panthers to promised land in first year
Oct. 20—OXFORD — Adam Mauney has won a championship before, but this one is a little sweeter.
Mauney's Pine Grove volleyball team claimed the Class 1A state title on Friday, beating Noxapater 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. It's the first state championship for the Panthers, the second for Mauney.
He led Hickory Flat to the 1A crown in 2021, then took the job at Pine Grove — his alma mater — prior to this season.
"It hits a lot different," Mauney said. "It's a whole lot different, especially with what they've been through the last several years."
This is just Pine Grove's fifth year as a program, and they struggled to compete the previous three years in 2A. Hickory Flat was also a young program when Mauney took it all the way.
But while a state championship was the ultimate goal, Pine Grove's players themselves didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
"It was not what I expected, because at the beginning of the year we did not start off that great," freshman Mylee Switcher said. "But we just worked hard throughout the whole season, and we did it."
Pine Grove (23-10) won 18 of its final 20 matches. The Panthers beat Hickory Flat 3-2 in the semifinals, and they started hot against Noxapater (20-8).
The Tigers found a groove in the second set, and it was tight the whole way. It was tied 20-20 when a Noxapater serving error gave Pine Grove the lead for good, and a kill by Lexi Beard gave the Panthers the set and a 2-0 lead.
Noxapater stayed within shouting distance in the third set but could never mount a run.
Switcher was named the match MVP. She finished with 16 assists and five service aces.
Beard had a team-high eight kills, while Selah Jumper had six.
"They're super coachable," Mauney said of his team. "You know how Pine Grove girls are; it's a Pine Grove girl mentality. They wanted to work, they wanted to get better, they wanted to win."
