After a hot start from Owensboro, Daviess County volleyball came back powered by a strong game from Josie Newcom and won three straight sets to grab its fifth straight win (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22).
The Lady Panthers earned the first three points of the opening set, but Owensboro did a good job of keeping the ball alive and making rallies long and got out to a 12-7 lead.
Daviess County fought their way back into it by making it an 18-17 deficit, but following a timeout the Lady Devils won five straight to points to win the first set 25-17.
Owensboro stayed hot in the second set, going up 7-2 before Daviess County took a timeout to regroup.
“Props to Owensboro for coming out ready to play,” Bailey said. “The first set kind of stunned us a little bit. Owensboro definitely has a lot of young talent and they took it to us.”
But the Lady Panthers bounced back out of the timeout, knotting things up at 18-18. They proceeded to grab three straight points to take a 21-18 lead, but the Lady Devils had other ideas and went on a 3-0 run of their own.
After a big block by Owensboro to keep the set alive, it was a kill from Sydney DeRossitt that gave Daviess County the second set 25-22.
The two teams continued to battle back and forth with high intensity in the third set, but it was the Lady Panthers who had momentum and came away with the 25-19 win.
With their backs against the wall, the Lady Devils had gotten out to an 8-6 lead in the fourth set. The set was later tied at 11-11, before Daviess County got hot and was in charge 22-15.
Despite being three points from folding, Owensboro wasn’t going down without a fight. The Lady Devils were able to win six straight points, making it a 22-21 game.
However, the Lady Panthers were in sync for the remainder of the set, only allowing one more point and winning the set 25-22 to come away victorious in the match in four sets.
After getting off to a hot start, Owensboro was unable to win another set. Head Coach Melissa Hibbs said it was the inability to limit their miscues that ultimately led to the loss.
“I think the first game we had limited our errors,” Hibbs said. “Second through fourth sets we had some unforced errors. Some missed serves and things like that that we need to eliminate to beat teams like that.”
While the final result isn’t in their favor, Hibbs said tonight proved that they are ready to go toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the Commonwealth this season.
“We felt good coming in,” Hibbs said. “I feel like we have the talent to compete with anybody throughout the region and I think we proved that a little bit tonight. We’re going to battle until the end and we’re gonna fight.”
Daviess County Head Coach Tyla Bailey agreed, saying that Owensboro proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with this season.
“Props to Owensboro for coming out ready to play,” Bailey said. “The first set kind of stunned us a little bit. Owensboro definitely has a lot of young talent and they took it to us.”
Newcom and Lexi Owen were a dynamic duo all night long, as Newcom came away with 20 kills and six digs. Meanwhile, Owen was responsible for setting up Newcom for a lot of her kills, tallying 52 assists in the game.
As the sets progressed, it was clear that Newcom’s ability to overpower Owensboro and strategically place the ball when needed was a huge factor in the Lady Panthers coming away victorious.
“Josie’s definitely an all-around player,” Bailey said. “She’s very smart when it comes to placement. She can execute just about anything. We knew going into it we would have to change our tempo in order to beat this team and I feel like Josie and Lexi really connected and they were able to do that.”
Daviess County now sits at 6-1 and will head to take on Bowling Green at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, while Owensboro will look to snap its two-game losing streak at home against Franklin Simpson at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
