SAND ROCK – It seems Sand Rock volleyball coach Lisa Bates always has an interesting group of girls, and this year is no different.

Monday against visiting Gaston was senior night for McKenzi Blackwell, Maci Brown, Hannah Davis, Cheyanne Fuqua and Haylee Stansell, and the Lady Wildcats made sure to make it a memorable one by pulling out all the stops.

In this case, pulling out the mannequins.

The Lady Wildcats dressed up a pair of mannequins in Sand Rock volleyball attire and had them behind their bench as sort of a luck charm for the match.

“They’re weird, but I love my girls,” Bates said. “Whatever helps them get excited about stuff, I don’t care. They’re an interesting group of girls, this bunch of seniors. The day they walked in with those, I was like ‘OK, why do we have mannequins?’ They just had some fun.”

Fun aside, the Lady Wildcats took care of business by sweeping their area rival 25-7, 25-5, 25-9 to improve to 3-0 on the season (1-0 Class 2A, Area 12).

Sand Rock jumped out to 15-0 edge in the first set to cruise to the win and set the tone for the other two sets.

Lanie Henderson led the way with seven kills and six aces. Jacey Stephens added six kills and eight assists. Davis delivered five kills, 10 digs and three aces. McKenna Ballenger contributed 14 assists, and Stansell finished with eight digs.

“I think they got to have fun tonight,” Bates said. “Some people got to play some positions they’re not used to. I’m just glad the seniors get to have a good senior night. I hope we have a good season so we can have a celebration at the end, but I’m proud we got to have a good senior night and everybody got to play. They’re a good group of girls. I just appreciate all the hard work they’ve put in from sixth grade until now.”

Sand Rock travels to Cherokee County on Tuesday for a tri-match with Piedmont.