Despite the Lady Panthers best efforts to pull off a comeback win at home, Trinity (Whitesville) was able to avenge its regional championship loss from a year ago with a 3-2 win in five sets (25-23, 14-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-11).
Both teams came out ready for battle in the first set, but it was the Lady Raiders who had the edge late up 20-16. Daviess County tried to climb back and win the set with a few big kills, but fell just short and lost 25-23.
However, it was all Lady Panthers in the second set. After jumping out to an 11-7 lead, Daviess County continued to catch steam and eventually went on to win the set 25-14.
Head Coach Tyla Bailey said it was purely a mindset thing that helped push Daviess County in the second set, while also gettin some very strong play from the powerful senior duo of Lexi Owen and Josie Newcom.
“I think just the vibe of knowing ‘hey we’re at home,’” Bailey said. “We didn’t play very well in the first set and we just kind of seemed off. But then we fixed that in the second and had the mentality of ‘this is a battle’… Lexi was setting some balls that honestly, I’m not even sure how she even got them out there. She was really doing a good job with that and then Josie working to finish did a nice job.”
The Lady Panthers seemingly took their momentum into the third set early on, trading points back and forth with Trinity until earning a 7-0 run to take a 10-6 lead. But after a quick timeout where Head Coach Daniel Morris told them to play calmly, the Lady Raiders came right back.
“The message was relax,” Morris said. “Just play the way we’ve played. Sometimes we just like to get uptight and panic a little bit. But after some positive words and some reaffirmation we’re good.”
Flying all over the court the Lady Raiders worked it to a 16-12 lead, before eventually putting away the third set 25-17. This helped Trinity jump out to a 2-1 match lead, as they looked to move to 6-0 in region play.
Daviess County had other ideas though, trading blows with the Lady Raiders before grabbing a 16-4 lead. The Lady Panthers would build their lead to 21-18, but after a timeout a 3-0 run by Trinity evened the set up and forced a Daviess County timeout.
The Lady Panthers then caught fire, going on a 4-0 run with a kill from senior Josie Newcom wrapping up the 25-21 win and forcing a fifth set. Daviess County got off to a strong start in the final set of the night as well, jumping out to a 5-2 lead with a 3-0 run.
A few points later there were some rotational issues that cost the Lady Panthers a point, but remained in charge at 7-5. Daviess County would build its lead to 10-8 in the set, but then Trinity came roaring back.
The Lady Raiders proceeded to grab three straight points to reclaim the lead at 11-10. The Lady Panthers would get one more point, but Trinity’s defense ultimately helped push them to the 15-11 set win and the 3-2 match victory.
In a timeout trailing Daviess County in the fifth set, the Lady Raiders were just eager to compete and try to come out on top. With this game seen as a marquee matchup when the season began, Trinity came ready to play.
“They were excited,” Morris said. “This was one of the games we circled on our schedule to avenge our loss from last year’s regional championship… It’s working hard to believing in ourselves [that’s been key] and it’s one thing that we’ve done really well this year.”
The Lady Raiders defense played a huge part in the win, as the team recorded a whopping 102 digs with sophomore Caroline Hall’s 26 leading the way. Three other players finished in double figures as well, including senior Abby Payne (20), junior Georgia Howard (19) and junior Hannah Nash (13).
“Tonight we did really really well with adjusting off of some swings and playing really good defense,” Morris said. “One of the things we still gotta work on is getting a little more touches. The more touches we had tonight, the better we could run our offense.”
Nash also chipped in 14 kills on the night, with Howard adding eight and sophomore McKenzie McDowell adding nine. Senior Josie Aull orchestrated the offense on the day, tallying 34 assists in the match.
Trinity’s winning streak extends to five games with the big win on Monday, while remaining undefeated at 6-0 in region play. Now sitting at 15-4 overall, the Lady Raiders will focus on staying strong in district play before a busy weekend at the All-A State Tournament.
“This is a big win for us,” Morris said. “A 9th district opponent, avenging last year’s regional championship, it gets us ready for competition this weekend for All-A State. We’ve got two big district games this week before we go to All-A State and we’re ready to make some noise at All-A State.”
Meanwhile, the Lady Panthers fall to 9-7 overall and 5-1 in region play with the loss, with a quick turnaround ahead. Daviess County was led offensively by Newcom’s 21 kills, as they recorded 46 as a team with Owen assisting on 43 of them.
Defensively however, the Lady Panthers had Sydney Mills as the only player in digs with 11, recording 48 as a team. Daviess County will look to stay strong in district play on Tuesday, taking on Apollo on the road at 7 p.m.
“How we bounce back tomorrow says a whole lot more than any loss against Trinity ever will,” Bailey said. “Props to them, a little painful but we’re not hanging our heads. It’s sports… We’ll be ready next time.”
