Owensboro Catholic used a balanced effort offensively and defensively to sweep the Lady Eagles 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 26-24) on Thursday, staying undefeated (9-0) in the tournament to grab their first 3rd Region Championship since 2019.
The Lady Aces opened up the match with a big kill from sophomore Jaiden Grant, but Ohio County responded quickly with a 3-0 run to make it 4-1. The two sides then began trading points, with the game becoming tied up at 6-6 early.
The Lady Eagles were able to regain momentum quickly, using some receiving errors by Owensboro Catholic to get a 5-0 run and an 11-6 lead. But a few points after a timeout, some great serving from senior Emily Christian helped the Lady Aces grab a 4-0 run to take a 14-13 lead and force an Ohio County timeout.
Owensboro Catholic then took complete momentum of the set, extending its lead to 19-14. But the Lady Eagles weren’t going away, cutting it to 24-20 to keep the set alive and force a timeout. Ohio County was able to get one more point following the short intermission, but the Lady Aces were able to get a big block from sophomore Tyranda Stuart to win the set 25-21 and take a 1-0 lead.
Tied at 2-2, Owensboro Catholic was able to grab a 3-0 run to start the second set off strong with a 5-2 lead. The Lady Eagles had other things in mind though, taking the lead at 7-5 with a 5-0 run.
Both sides then proceeded to trade points back and forth, with the set eventually becoming tied at 9-9. Ohio County was able to pick up steam little by little though, going up 13-10 before a Lady Aces timeout.
Owensboro Catholic was able to recover out of the timeout, getting some help from the net two points in a row to even the game at 14. A pair of kills later and the Lady Aces had a 4-0 run and a 16-14 lead.
Owensboro Catholic then built its lead to 18-15 and the Lady Eagles took a timeout, grabbing two points back to nearly tie it up at 18-17 shortly after. But the Lady Aces were able to close out strong, getting a barrage of knuckling serves from Stuart en route to a 25-20 second-set win and a 2-0 lead.
It was a 3-3 start to open up the third set, with Ohio County battling to keep the match going with a 4-0 run to make it a 7-3 game. But Owensboro Catholic responded swiftly, using a 4-0 run of their own to tie it before another point made it a 5-0 run and gave them an 8-7 lead.
The Lady Eagles quickly forced the third lead change of the set out of a timeout though, using a 3-0 run to make it 10-8. The Lady Aces had the answer once again however, tying it at 11-11 before taking the lead at 12-11.
Ohio County proceeded to knot things up the following point, but the Lady Aces reclaimed the lead once again at 15-12 with a 3-0 run. The Lady Eagles bounced right back with a run of their own again, tying it at 16-16 before taking an 18-16 lead with a pair of kills.
Ohio County added onto their lead to make it 21-18 later in set, but Owensboro Catholic had the answer again—this time getting a powerful kill from Stuart that echoed in the gym and a serving ace from junior Kennedy Murphy to make it even at 21-21. Grant got a kill the following point to make it a 4-0 run, but the Lady Eagles answered right back to even things up at 22-22.
It remained tied at 24-24, when Head Coach Brian Hardison decided to take a timeout. Shortly after the timeout Ohio County had a serving error to make it 25-24, while Grant went on to get the final kill in the 26-24 win to complete the sweep and grab the Lady Aces first 3rd Region title since 2019.
It was a true team effort from Owensboro Catholic, getting 49 of the team’s 50 kills from Castlen (14), Grant (11), Stuart (9), senior Abigail Williams (8) and junior Blair Riney while Murphy dished out 45 assists. Stuart had a standout game with her powerful kills, coming as a result of some mental preparation coming into the match according to Hardison.
“She was a beast,” Hardison said. “They single block middle, so we went over going to your left or going to your right and never going straight. And it worked. Actually anybody that was in the middle, it worked for them.”
Christian had the other kill to go along with three aces, while leading the team defensively with 32 digs. Junior Karsen Tipmore was close behind with 16 digs, while getting eight from Murphy and six from Riney and junior Isabelle Reisz.
The win meant a lot to Castlen and her teammates, proud of the fact that they were able to turn their 4-6 start to the season around and bring some more hardware back to Owensboro Catholic.
“It’s just an amazing feeling because we’ve worked so hard for this moment,” Castlen said. “And we’ve really bounced back from early in the season to this moment right now… Our teamwork is key. Our team gets along so well… We’re all just friends. I think that’s a big part of it.”
Teamwork is a constant theme shared by Hardison and the Lady Aces as credit for the victory, knowing that their chemistry is key to a clean 9-0 sweep of the 3rd Region Tournament.
“We started practice right after school and it started out very ugly,” Hardison said. “But then once we got into it I was like, ‘we’re going to be hard to beat.’ They got energized and then we went downstairs and watched ‘Remember the Titans’ and part of ‘Any Given Sunday’ and all of it was about how you have to play as a team. Everything [has to be done] as a team and that’s what they did… I couldn’t be more proud of these girls. Every single one of them.”
Preparation was also another key factor in Owensboro Catholic’s 3rd Region Championship win according to Hardison—especially on the defensive end where they were able to tally seven blocks as a team.
“We actually worked on that Wednesday,” Hardison said. “We worked on blocking and then getting back to the net… Me and Blake both like breaking down film and stuff [and figuring out] what they’re doing. I was on YouTube saying that right there is perfect and that’s what we need to work on. To be honest I never want to take credit for what these young ladies do, but preparation was key.”
Along with crediting their teamwork for helping them communicate well and succeed on the floor, Castlen said that the team’s energy also helps keep the Lady Aces at their best. Now going into the first round of the state tournament against Assumption at 7 p.m. on Monday, Owensboro Catholic will look to live by that motto while being focused in every facet of the game to extend their postseason run.
“We try not to get down on ourselves,” Castlen said. “We try not to let loose or get angry at each other. We try to get the point right back and if we do we congratulate each other. We just keep pumping each other up [and it helps].”
