The Lady Aces rolled to their sixth consecutive victory Tuesday night, sweeping Meade County 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-14) in the quarterfinals of the 3rd Region volleyball tournament at Hancock County.
Owensboro Catholic (24-10) simply had too many weapons for the Lady Waves (16-17), relying on powerful outside hitting and a much-improved service game to take control in each set.
“We had too much firepower,” said Lady Aces head coach Brian Hardison. “We have gotten a lot better with our serves. We had been averaging about 17 missed serves per match.”
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For more photos from the game, click here.
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Though their victory was never in jeopardy, the Catholic still had to work as Meade County put up a fight even when facing a big deficit.
“We had to come in here and be ready because Meade is one of those teams that doesn’t go away. We have to be ready to play teams like that.”
Catholic never trailed in the first set, steadily working their way to a 20-9 advantage with a mixture of big hits, soft touches and Meade County errors. Cecilia Clemens closed out the set with a backwards tip over the net that went untouched.
The Lady Waves only trailed 14-10 midway through set two, but an 8-1 run led by the service games of Madeline Castlen and Clemens created plenty of late separation.
Castlen then led Catholic to a 12-5 lead early in the third frame — recording two aces, a block and a kill in that stretch — creating enough of an advantage that Hardison was able to get all his players on the court.
“With us getting a lead, I had the opportunity to get my bench in and now everybody on our team has lettered,” he said. “That was one of my goals, too.”
Hardison said his team has enough experience and leadership they are able to carry out the game plan on their own, and they will be tough to beat if they can keep playing well.
“They don’t really need the coaching,” he said. “They want me out there telling them stuff, but they know what to do. When they’re flowing, they’re just hard to stop.”
Castlen finished with team highs in kills (9), aces (4) and blocks (3), also adding two digs. Clemens recorded 19 assists, seven kills and five digs.
Other leaders for the Lady Aces were Cassidy Towery (5 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks), Belle Wright (7 kills, 3 digs), Cate Sights (6 kills, 3 blocks), Jenna Glenn (5 digs), Clara Bach (3 assists, 2 digs) and Jayden Bickett (4 digs).
Catholic advances to play Muhlenberg County in Wednesday’s semifinal match scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The other semifinal match features Apollo vs. defending region champion Breckinridge County at 6 p.m.
The championship is scheduled for 7 p.m Thursday.
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