Volleyball is a game of runs and Tuesday’s contest between Apollo and Owensboro at OHS had plenty of them but it was the Lady Devils that went on the final run en route to a victory in the first game of the season for both squads.
After winning the first set 25-23, a switch flipped for Owensboro and not for the better as Apollo won a tight second set 28-26 and cruised in the third 25-8 to set up a potential victory in the fourth set.
But the Lady Devils turned it on as they won the fourth 25-14 and never looked back in the fifth as they took it 15-8 for the match victory.
OHS coach Melissa Hibbs said even though this year is different, the plan doesn’t change.
“The goal for tonight, just like any night, is just playing hard and we’ve got to play consistent,” Hibbs said. “Those are the two things that we have talked about in the past couple of weeks when we’ve got to start practicing. Play till the whistle blows, play hard, hit the ground every single ball.”
The first two sets were the epitome of district play as both teams came out firing and split the sets.
Hibbs said the third set (25-8 AHS) didn’t going there way until the final few points but that was the momentum shift the Lady Devils needed.
“We dug ourselves in a huge hole,” she said. “We missed way too many serves but as the set started to end, we started to find our momentum. We started to find ourself and we realized we could dig ourselves back up. These girls, especially the senior leadership, they have this grit. We came into the huddle and they were like ‘we’re going.’”
With official practices only beginning a couple of weeks ago, teams weren’t able to try out different lineups in scrimmages and normal practices.
Hibbs said it’ll take some time to find a rhythm.
“It’s hard to find in two weeks,” she said. “It’s hard to find the lineup that’s going to work. We didn’t run the same lineup every set tonight. We had to find something that was going to work. The last two sets, things started to click and we started realizing how we want to play with each other. It’s still going to be a process, it’s going to be a process until the end of the season because normally we’re doing two a days but with the restrictions, we’ve really only had one week without any restrictions.”
Apollo coach MaryAnne Howard said there are a few things her squad can take from Monday’s loss.
“To learn from our mistakes,” she said. “I think the biggest thing we have to work on is our consistency. We just did not serve or pass with any consistency tonight. That’s something in order to be successful this season that we’re going to have to be able to do. All you can do is learn from it and go to work in the gym and try to improve and get better as the season goes on.”
Owensboro hits the road Thursday as they take on Franklin-Simpson while Apollo plays Saturday at home against Henderson County.
Owensboro 3, Apollo 2
AHS (0-1) 23 28 25 14 8–2
OHS (1-0) 25 26 8 25 15–3
AHS: Havana John (8 kills), Aliyah Carwile (4 kills), Maddi Boswell (1 kill, 1 block, 1 ace, 1 assist), Brylee Rhodes (2 kills, 2 blocks), Tallie Satterfield (2 blocks), Allie Fulkerson (1 block), Anslee Hopewell (6 aces), Camryn Kerwick (2 aces), Carol Flake (2 aces), Brylee Rhodes (1 ace), Alli Hargitt (2 aces, 6 assists)
OHS: Addie McDaniel (1 kill, 3 digs), Brooklyn Williams (6 kills, 1 dig), Chase Mather (1 ace, 2 kills, 11 digs, 2 assists), Hannah Ashly (2 kills, 2 assists, 4 digs), Jersie Rhineburger (4 aces, 1 assist, 12 digs), Kennedy Thompson (6 aces, 4 assists, 8 digs), Krystell Pappas (5 aces, 7 kills, 7 assists, 5 digs), Lainey Hayden (4 aces, 9 kills, 1 assist, 13 digs), Mckenzie Biddle (1 digdig), Mia Covington (2 kills, 1 dig)
