The Grace Christian Academy Lady Cougars soccer team celebrated senior night Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over Albany’s Sherwood Christian Academy Lady Eagles at Perry Memorial Gymnasium.
Seniors honored were Kelsey Harrell, Lindsey Duke and manager Haley Chandler. Harrell, daughter of Lady Cougars soccer coach Erwin Harrell and Kelley Harrell, began playing volleyball for the Lady Cougars on the junior varsity team in the fifth grade. She joined the varsity in the seventh grade and became a starter playing various positions.
As an eighth grader Harrell became a fulltime starter as an outside hitter and has continued there through her senior season.
As a sophomore Harrell was also part of the 2013 Lady Cougars state championship team, which she led in serve attempts and was second in kills. She was selected as an All-Region performer as a freshman, sophomore and junior, and has been nominated All-Region as a senior. She was also selected to the All-State Team as a sophomore.
During her varsity career Harrell has had 698 kills, and 83 digs, which are both new, school records. She also had a career serve percentage of 87 percent with 271 aces out of 1150 serve attempts. Tuesday’s game against Sherwood Christian Academy was a 121st match as a varsity starter. She served as the Lady Cougars co-captain her junior and senior years.
Duke, daughter of Eddie and Debbie Duke, began playing with the Lady Cougars junior varsity as a seventh grader. She joined the varsity team in the eighth grade and became a starter her freshman year. As a freshman and sophomore she played various positions but became the full time setter in her junior and senior seasons.
As a sophomore Duke was part of the 2013 Lady Cougars state championship team and play ed an important role in the team’s success. As a junior she as selected as an All-Region performer and has been nominated her senior year. This year, she has helped lead her team to a second place seed in the state tournament, which begins this week.
During her varsity career Duke led the team in serve percentage in her 10th and 11th grade years and she is a close second her senior year. He has a career serve percentage of 93 percent with 151 ace serves. She has also tallied 609 assists and 225 digs. Tuesday was her 81st match as a varsity starter.
Duke has been co-captain her junior and senior years and she is always offering encouragement and demonstrating appositive Christian influence to her teammates.