In an early season hard fought district match, the E-gals volleyball team’s efforts fell just short against Owensboro Catholic in a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 25-23, 25-21).
Apollo grabbed an early 5-2 lead in the first set thanks to a 3-0 run, but it didn’t take long for the Lady Aces to get going and eventually tie things up at 9-9. The two remained tied at 11-11, but the E-gals responded swiftly with a 4-0 run to reclaim the lead.
Momentum continued to shift once again shortly after though, as the Lady Aces clawed their way back to 17-16 before going on to claim a 25-19 win in the opening set. The second set was much of the same, with both teams trading blows and getting the second set to a 14-14 tie.
Owensboro Catholic later used a 2-0 run to grab a 20-18 lead, but the E-gals battled their way back to tie the set at 23-23. However, back-to-back kills put things back in the Lady Aces favor once again, as they took a 2-0 lead in the game once again with the 25-23 set win.
Apollo’s intensity didn’t dip despite its deficit, working things to an 8-8 tie to open up the third set. The E-gals then caught fire going on a 5-1 run to take a 16-10 lead and seemingly taking control of the set.
However, Owensboro Catholic went on a 5-0 run themselves, forcing Apollo to call a timeout with its lead diminished to 16-15. In the timeout, Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Brian Hardison just kept telling his players to play tightly in order to keep the comeback rolling.
“One of my favorite things to say is take the floor away from them,” Hardison said. “If they can’t hit the floor then they can’t score.”
They listened, as the Lady Aces went on to reclaim the lead points later before ultimately grabbing a 25-21 win to complete the 3-0 sweep.
Senior Emily Christian and junior Karsen Tipmore led the charge defensively, recording 15 and 13 digs respectively. Offensively it was junior Blair Riney and senior Abigail Williams who led the charge with a combined 16 kills, while junior Kennedy Murphy set the team up with 23 assists.
Hardison felt like they could’ve played better on the night, but he was thrilled with his team’s persistence and ability to not let momentum ever completely put their fire out.
“They have great fight and they get along great,” Hardison said. “I feel like our team chemistry is really good… It all depends on who shows up.”
The Lady Aces now have their first win—and district win—of the season and will look for another one when they take on Daviess County at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Hardison tipped his cap to the E-gals after the game, while telling his crew that the 9th district doesn’t let up.
“They came out and they played,” Hardison said. “They played really well. I asked my players and said ‘how many of you underestimated them?’ Almost all of them said we did… If you don’t think it’s going to be like that in our district you’ve got another thing coming.”
Apollo Head Coach MaryAnne Howard was also pleased with her team’s performance despite the final result, knowing that they played well and have room to grow.
“It was a good match for both teams,” Howard said. “I think we’re still fighting our youth at times and fighting inconsistencies. I think tonight we had some inconsistent play and Catholic kept the pressure on us to make those inconsistencies show.”
Junior Jennifer Lee led the way offensively, tallying eight kills while giving the E-gals front line plenty of energy. Sophomore McKenna Mason dished out 12 assists, while junior Kelsey Dickenson led the defense with seven digs.
“Our goal is to minimize the other team’s runs and maximize our momentum and our runs,” Howard said. “And a lot of that is inconsistent play and unforced errors. If we can shore those up that’ll help to keep our momentum and not let other teams cut us short on some of our runs.”
Howard and company were glad to have the early district test at this point in the season and are looking forward to learning from it and hoping to improve as the season progresses.
“It’s a good measuring stick,” Howard said. “Especially for a young team to learn to play under this pressure, because when you get to the end of the season in the district tournament that’s such a pressure-filled environment. This is a little taste of it now and we’re able to come back from it tomorrow and say ‘ok how did we respond to the pressure,’ and evaluate what we need to do going forward… It’s something you have to experience to learn how to work through it.”
The E-gals will return to the floor in a few days, taking Wednesday off before traveling to take on Ohio County at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
