By Bobby Mathews, sports editor
TRUSSVILLE — Kumani Galloway stepped onto the court at Bryant Bank Arena for the final time on Wednesday evening, one foot in a walking boot that she’s had to wear for the last several weeks.
Galloway’s injury didn’t matter — the moment did. Her next two serves brought Hewitt-Trussville to match point against an overwhelmed Pleasant Grove squad. The Huskies won three straight sets to take the match, 25-13, 25-17, 25-11.
“It felt really good,” Galloway said afterward. “Just with it being my last season, and really being out with an injury for the whole season, I really wanted to at least touch the ball one more time.”
The Huskies only have three seniors on the team: Zoe Walker, Chrischandria James and Galloway. Hewitt-Trussville ends regular season play at 19-17, and will play in the area tournament at Spain Park on October 14, facing Vestavia at 4:30 p.m.
“If we really give it our all and go in as a team, I think we’ll do well in the area tournament,” Walker said.
The seniors are hoping that they’re not done just yet. Their believe that their play in the area tournament will show how much they’ve grown. To do well, they’re working on being mentally prepared.
“I think I need to stop getting down on myself when I make mistakes,” Walker said. “It ends up making me make a lot more mistakes. I need to be able to shake that off.”
As for James, her service game has grown a great deal in her senior season. She served one clean ace and several balls that Pleasant Grove managed to touch but not return. In the first set, James served four straight points to help the Huskies pull into a commanding lead.
“I’ve been working on calming my adrenaline down when I’m serving,” James said, “because sometimes I like to rush when I get back there on the line. I think calming down and taking a deep breath before I serve, like coach tells me to, is helping.”
On this evening, it was a total team effort, with kills by James and junior Haley Wilkinson, strong service performances by Marley Carmichael and Julianna Perez and well-timed blocking by Molly Kate Green and Sara Phillips.
The end result of that total team effort was one of the Huskies’ best wins of the season.