Trailing 19-17 late in the third set, Owensboro Catholic’s Tyranda Stuart walked to the service line and took over, helping her team go on a 9-0 run to close out the set and sweep Trinity 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19) to advance to the 3rd Region volley tournament championship, where they’ll face Owensboro on Thursday night.
Stuart’s performance was a major reason for the team’s sweep, as she finished with 14 digs, 10 kills, two service aces, and two blocks.
“Tyranda’s awesome. She’s a great all-around player,” Owensboro Catholic head coach Brian Hardison said. “When she’s on, the other team is in trouble.”
The first set was back and forth, but the Lady Aces were able to pull away down the stretch. In the second set, Owensboro Catholic led 18-14 and was seemingly on the cusp of running away with it.
Unfazed, Trinity went on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 20-20. But similar to the first set, the Lady Aces delivered the necessary kills in the closing moments to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Trailing 11-6 in the third set, Trinity went on a 13-5 run, but the Lady Aces responded with their 9-0 run to close it out.
“A lot of the times it’s really hard to close out a match, especially when the other team has that mentality that they don’t want to lose either,” senior Olivia Castlen said. “We kept our focus.”
Castlen led the Lady Aces in kills with 20 and added five blocks, three digs, and three service aces. Mayme Powell and Resse Keller both finished with 22 assists, while Jaiden Grant recorded a team-high six blocks.
The Lady Aces know the job isn’t finished and have their eyes set on bringing home a region title.
“I am going to go in there with the mentality that I am not done and I have to do this for my team,” Castlen said. “I am not going to let last year happen again.”
For the Lady Raiders, Caroline Hall finished with a team-high 15 digs and three service aces, while Kenzie McDowell led the way with 15 assists and seven kills. Addison Mills recorded seven kills and three blocks.
While it came to a disappointing end, the Lady Raiders’ season was a successful one as they went 28-9 and won the 12th District title.
“The girls worked extremely hard and had a point to prove. The team lost some of their top hitters from the year before and we had girls who have never done it before,” Trinity head coach Brooke Hall said. “They said, ‘ok coach put me in’ and they did that. They started learning things they had never learned before, went in, and performed.”
Lady Devils take care of business
The Lady Devils swept Grayson County 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-17) to set up a rematch of the 9th District finals with Owensboro Catholic.
“We talked about how tonight was all about surviving and moving on,” Owensboro head coach Melissa Hibbs said. “We knew Grayson County wasn’t going to just give it to us. I felt we were able to capitalize on our size throughout the match compared to what they did. Defensively they kept the ball out and I am proud of our girls for coming back and being aggressive at them.”
The Lady Devils dominated the first set, always having a response whenever it seemed Grayson County found its footing.
In the second set, Owensboro jumped out to an early 13-8 lead, but the Lady Cougars responded with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to one. Owensboro answered back with an 11-7 run to take a 2-0 lead.
Trailing 13-16 in the third set, the Lady Devils went on an impressive 12-1 run to close out the match.
Addie Travis led the way with 14 kills, four digs, and three blocks, while Anna Travis recorded 18 assists, 11 digs, five kills, two blocks, and one service ace. Ava Fincher finished with 18 assists, seven kills, six digs, one block, and one service ace.
The Lady Devils are 0-3 against Owensboro Catholic this season, with their most recent loss coming in the district championship game last week.
“We and Owensboro Catholic know each other very well,” Hibbs said. “We’ve seen each other several times throughout the year and had multiple competitive matches. I think it’s just coming in here with confidence, going at them aggressively, not backing down, and believing in ourselves.”