A strange sense of anticipation filled the Fred Delay Gymnasium Friday night as four sets of parents found their senior daughters and lined up outside of the gym, inside of the lobby.
Name by name, four graduating seniors were called to the middle of the gym to be greeted by head coach Darrin McClure, a bouquet of flowers and a few teammates. A list of awards each player had won were announced and the seniors shared heart warming final thoughts to their teammates, coaches and parents.
Once the flowers and the gifts were put away, the national anthem played and the starters were announced. After just coming off a win from the night before, the Lady Bulldogs were ready to dominate Friday night as well. Senior psychology major Deja Moorer, senior family studies major, Hannah Huguley and senior public relations major, McKenna Carter took the stage to battle together one last time on the court. With Moorer only having 11 more kills to reach 1,000, Huguley set Moorer out every chance she got.
“One of my goals I set at the beginning of this season was to reach 1,000 kills,” Moorer said. “Coach really helped me stay focused on that goal. The last two games he let the team know that I needed 33 more kills and they truly rallied behind me and helped me accomplish my goal.”
The Lady Bulldogs started the night off with a 25-15 win for their first set. The second set was a back and forth until the Lady Bulldogs clinched the win, 25-22. The third set was a whirlwind as Union held off the University of West Georgia, 26-24. Union led early, but the University of West Georgia was never down by more than four points the entire set. They continued to fight throughout the set making it a challenging final set for Union. Moorer received her 1,000th kill in the beginning of the third set to start their 4-0 rally.
“It was great to go out on two wins,” Huguley said. “The team made a point to give us the best possible end to the season. It was awesome to feel all of the love and support from our team and coaches.”
The Lady Bulldogs played back-to-back games Thursday and Friday won both games. They ended the season 8-12 in the Gulf South Conference.
“This season has had its ups and downs but at the end of it all I couldn’t be more proud of how hard this team fought through it all,” Carter said. “It may not have been where we wanted to end up, but it was still a great way to end a career.”
Moorer led the team with 12 kills. Moorer and Huguley both added 3 service aces. Carter led the team with 6 blocks and Huguley added 29 assists. Moorer finished her career with 1,001 kills. Huguley finished her career with 2, 329 assists and Carter finished her career with 242 blocks.
“I made a family with my coaches and team, I will really miss my time spent here at Union,” Moorer said.