In a back-and-forth district affair with a buzzing gym filled with fans and students, Daviess County secured its first district win of the season by sweeping the Lady Aces (26-24, 25-23, 25-15).
The Lady Panthers got the contest going with a resounding kill from senior Josie Newcom, as they went on a 4-0 run before a missed block put the Lady Aces on the board. However, Daviess County kept rolling and eventually took a 9-2 lead to force an Owensboro Catholic timeout.
The Lady Aces began to string some points together thanks to solid serving from sophomore Tyranda Stuart, chipping away to make it 13-10 Daviess County. Down 18-13 later in the set, Owensboro Catholic continued to battle and rattled off four to make it 18-17.
A few points after a Lady Panthers timeout, senior Abigail Williams gave Owensboro Catholic its first lead of the night at 20-19 with a kill. The Lady Panthers quickly tied it up, but shortly after a 3-0 run for the Lady Aces made it a 24-21 game.
Looking to try and grab a sweep, Daviess County Head Coach Tyla Bailey tried to get her team to lock back in and make a run.
“The message there was focus…” Bailey said. “We talk a lot about how now is not the time to be fancy, now is not the time to be an individual player; work together as a team. They did that and thank goodness we pulled through.”
Daviess County proceeded to grab five straight points, climbing back for a 26-24 opening-set win.The second set of the day was much of the same, with a back and forth affair right away. But it was Owensboro Catholic who picked up steam and grabbed a 15-11 lead.
The Lady Panthers worked its way back into the set though, knotting things up at 18-18. Both teams traded blows for the remainder of the set, but the Lady Aces just missed on a block down 24-23 as Newcom gave Daviess County a 2-0 lead.
“I feel like both teams came out ready to play,” Bailey said. “And I’m very pleased with the way my girls, whoever I called on, wherever stepped up and got the job done. It was a true team effort.”
The Lady Panthers were led by Newcom and senior Lexi Owen offensively, earning 11 kills and 14 assists. The two have played together for a good chunk of their volleyball careers and on the court their coach sees the natural connection.
“Lexi and Josie have played together for awhile and we’re fortunate to have them,” Bailey said. “They just click and when they’re on, they’re on. And tonight they definitely had an on night.”
Bailey was also thrilled with the team’s ability to move the ball as a whole, tipping her cap to a number of players that came in big when Daviess County needed.
“Our passing also did a great job. And then even Kaiden Mattingly coming in and being a big force at the net was huge, Sydney DeRossitt, Emma Rogers defensively and Taylor is always ready to roll [too].”
Newcom and Owen were both ecstatic following the tough district win, stating that they felt like Daviess County after the game—in their eyes, they clicked and put it all together.
“We were still trying new things, trying new rotations and none of us had that connection yet,” Newcom said. “We finally figured it out and I think this game is a big turning point for us.”
They improve to 6-4 overall and 1-0 in district play with the win, as they will now take a few days off before hosting Bowling Green at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. On the other hand, Head Coach Brian Hardison feels like the Lady Aces could’ve played better on the night.
“We beat ourselves,” Hardison said. “Same thing as against Apollo. We looked a little bit better tonight than we did against Apollo, but we just made way too many errors. When you finally get the ball back and turn around and serve it out, serve it in the net or whatever—you can’t beat people like that.”
Defensively Owensboro Catholic was able to amass a whopping 81 digs, but just weren’t able to get much offense. It was junior Blair Riney who led the way in that front, adding nine kills while Williams tallied seven.
The Lady Aces fall to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in district play with the loss, now looking forward to a day break before they hit the road to take on Todd County Central at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
