While Owensboro Catholic made a late push to try and get revenge from its five-set loss earlier in the season, the Lady Panthers were able to hang on and best them once again with a 3-1 home win on Tuesday (27-25, 25-22, 12-25, 25-22).
It was a back-and-forth affair in the opening set, with neither team being able to build more than a two-point lead. Daviess County caught a break up 18-17, as the official called an error on them before changing it to make it a 19-17 lead instead of a tie game.
However, the Lady Aces grabbed two right back to make it 19-19. With the set eventually going on to be tied at 25-25, it was a kill by senior Josie Newcom that gave the Lady Panthers a slight edge at 26-25 and forced a timeout.
Daviess County came out of the timeout and was able to perfectly place the ball in the back left corner, taking the first set over Owensboro Catholic 27-25. The Lady Panthers took that momentum into the second set, using a 3-0 run to take a 6-3 lead.
Senior Lexi Owen helped them keep the run going, building their lead to 9-5 with an ace and making the Lady Aces take a timeout. After giving up a point right following the timeout, Daviess County got hot again and rattled off six straight to take a 15-6 lead.
Trailing 18-10 later in the set, Owensboro Catholic was able to get some offense going with a 4-0 run to cut its deficit. Following a timeout the Lady Panthers seemed to have regained momentum, but the Lady Aces didn’t go away and made it a 22-19 game.
Owensboro Catholic got it to 22-21, but Daviess County was able to pull away and get a kill from Newcom to secure the 25-22 win and take a 2-0 lead. Head Coach Tyla Bailey said it was the mental side of the game that helped them get off to a strong start, knowing that they had come ready to play against a tough district opponent.
“Any time we play Owensboro Catholic we know it’s going to be a battle,” Bailey said. “We know that we’re going to have to step up our game and be consistent with what we do. I think just having the mindset of ‘ok, enough of this crap that we’ve been calling volleyball,’ [helped us].”
The Lady Aces showed just why they are a formidable foe in the third set, as they were able to take advantage of some receiving errors by the Lady Panthers to build a 7-3 lead. Daviess County surrendered one more point, but a quick 4-0 run had them trailing 8-7.
The Lady Panthers weren’t able to build on the momentum though, as miscommunications and some receiving errors allowed Owensboro Catholic to jump out to a 16-10 lead. The Lady Aces stayed strong to close out the set, winning 25-12 to force a fourth and make it a 2-1 Daviess County lead.
“Third set, we just had a lot of silly mistakes early on,” Bailey said. “Just doing things that we should be more conditioned not to do. But we kept doing them and doing them and so that kind of bit us in the butt.”
Both teams were dialed in to start the fourth set, as they traded points going toward a 10-10 tie. Tied at 16-16, it was the Lady Panthers that got rolling with a 3-0 run to make it 19-16.
Owensboro Catholic took a timeout before giving up another point to make it 20-16, but eventually worked its way back to a 21-19 deficit. Daviess County was able to hang on though, winning the final set 25-22 to complete the 3-1 district victory.
Newcom led the way with 20 kills, while senior Adylan Ayer added 11 and Owen orchestrated the offense with 36 assists. Senior Taylor Roberts led the defense with 12 digs, while senior Kayedon Mattingly also added eight blocks to help grab the win.
“I’m definitely pleased with the way we came out to play,” Bailey said. “I feel like this season we’re saying ‘this feels like us,’ but tonight really did feel like us. After a rough weekend at Castle, I think we’re where we need to be.”
Meanwhile, juniors Blair Riney and Kennedy Murphy took charge of the Lady Aces offense, recording a team-leading 15 kills and 34 assists. Owensboro Catholic’s defense kept the ball alive well on Tuesday also, as senior Emily Christian (20), junior Karson Tipmore (20), Riney (15) and junior Isabelle Reisz (13) all finished in double figures in digs.
The Lady Aces fall to 11-8 and 3-2 in district play following the loss, now taking a day off before hitting the road to take on Breckinridge County at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Daviess County on the other hand improves to 14-9 and 4-1 in district play, having a day’s break before hosting Madisonville-North Hopkins at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
