Traveling to Owensboro, Daviess County overcame a lopsided third set to close out the Lady Devils 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 9-25, 25-18). The Lady Panthers Haylee Clark finished with a team-high seven kills, while Lexi Jones had 27 digs and three service aces. Jenna Lawson recorded eight assists, and Maddie Chinn finished with eight blocks and five kills.
“The girls were bought in tonight, and it pulled us through some close situations,” Daviess County Head Coach Tyla Bailey said.
Owensboro jumped out to an early first-set lead, but seven missed serves allowed for the Lady Panthers to bounce back and take a 1-0 lead. The second set was tightly contested and tied late 23-23, but Daviess County won the last two points to take a commanding 2-0 lead. Moving forward, Owensboro Head Coach Mitchell Johnson wants to see his team get out of their own heads and close out close sets.
“I felt like we were starting to push and started to tip a little bit more instead of going up and there and being aggressive,” Johnson said. “And I want us to be able to be aggressive.”
Trailing 2-0, the Lady Devils jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the third set and quickly closed it out, 25-9. Johnson attributed his team’s dominant third set to limiting their service errors and cleaning up on their side of the net.
After the third set, Bailey acknowledged to her team that they didn’t play their best and to return to what worked in the first two sets. And that they did, closing out the match 25-18.
For the Lady Devils, Ayrish Barksdale finished with 20 kills and seven digs, while Anna Travis had 34 assists, 13 digs, eight blocks, and six kills.
Daviess County will be back in action on Thursday when they host Breckinridge County, while Owensboro travels to Trinity (Whitesville).
E-Gals come from behind against Lady Aces
Trailing 2-1 on the road, Apollo won two straight sets behind Avery Gray’s 24 digs, 23 kills, and six service aces to beat Owensboro Catholic 3-2 (27-25, 20-25, 25-27, 25-16, 15-9). Jessie Pate recorded a team-high 39 digs, and Maddi Roberts led the team in assists with 24.
“I am so proud of our team tonight,” Apollo Head Coach Mary Howard said. “Every set was back and forth. Our goal was to be aggressive at the service line while maintaining a high level of accuracy. Catholic attacked the ball very aggressively all night long, but our girls never gave up and kept fighting for every point. They were able to keep their composure and maintain high energy all night long.”
Mayme Powell led the way for the Lady Aces, recording 47 assists, six digs, four kills, and one block. Molly Arnold finished with 27 digs, while Addie Oller had 18 kills, five digs, three blocks, and two service aces.
