Back on post and back to playoff sports at the high school level! This time it was four all too familiar foes; Hopkinsville, University Heights, Fort Campbell, and Christian County, facing off for a chance to play for a district title and punch a ticket to the region tournament.
County and Ft. Campbell were up first.
The Lady Colonels came out swinging in set number one. They started on an 11-2 run before the Lady Falcons called a timeout and composed themselves slightly.
Ultimately of course the deficit was too large to overcome and Christian County won set one 25-15. However, that is only a 15-13 advantage the rest of that set, and Ft. Campbell fought to a 14-14 tie in set two.
It certainly looked for a moment like that TO was a big turning point. Not so fast though, as the Lady Colonels rallied themselves and weathered the struggles to run away with set two 25-16. If you are keeping up that is going from a two point advantage over the last half of the first and first half of the second, to another 11-2 run.
Fascinating!
Set three had none of the drama of the first two, as Christian County just spiked their way to victory with spectacular team effort. They would lead 17-8 when the Lady Falcons called another timeout and did not let up winning set three 25-15 in the end and sweeping the game in straight sets.
Here is Head Coach Rick Erickson on his teams performance…
They punch their ticket to Thursday nights district championship and the region tournament. Now it was just a matter of who will they play.
The answer to that came in the following game when UHA took on Hopkinsville.
The Lady Blazers were the one seed, and they certainly showed why.
They began on a 14-5 run and after a Lady Tiger timeout they kept the pressure on winning set one 25-11.
Set two looked like a copy and paste as it began with a nearly identical 12-3 run before Hoptown called timeout. The Lady Tigers try as they might, and man did they fight and claw, had to call another timeout down 21-10 and try to fight back. They would manage two of the next six points as UHA took set two 25-12.
The third, and final, set was certainly Hopkinsville’s finest. They kept it within striking distance starting off only trailing 12-6 before they would call another timeout. They kept it at a similar margin as long as they could before the Lady Blazers pulled away to win it 25-11 and sweep the game in straight sets.
That brought an end to the Lady Tigers season. It was not their best, but certainly was fun to watch. They clawed their way to three region wins over Trigg County (x2) and Webster County. They also nearly defeated the Lady Colonels at Wreck at the Plex.
Now comes a heated final.
UHA and Christian County have played some incredible volleyball against each other this year. Despite the fact that the Lady Blazers hold a combined 6-1 set advantage, the Lady Colonels do a great job of forcing them out of rhythm and never allowing them to get extremely comfortable as they have in several games this year.
Thursday night will come down to two things; Conditioning and Julia Thomas.
In their second matchup with each other these two teams went back and forth at UHA each team taking a set before the Lady Blazers won set three close and ran away with set four. The Lady Colonels seamed to run out of steam, something they have done a good job correcting down the stretch.
The other factor, as I said above, is Julia Thomas, who any coach across the state I am sure would love to have.
Thomas just committed to play D1 volleyball at FIU, Florida International University, after the game Tuesday night. That alone tells you just how talented she is. Not to mention she owns the school single season record with 345 kills, 755 for her career, and 231 blocks in that same career. She becomes the second UHA volleyball player to participate at the D1 level joining meg Starling who played at Ball State.
You want to beat the Lady Blazers? You will need to limit her production, and play four or five sets of very high level volleyball.
Are the Lady Colonels capable? Absolutely. Is UHA and Thomas, among many other talented players, also capable of just sweeping it as they did in the first game between these two earlier in the year? You bet they are. How will this third matchup play out? Six pm Thursday evening on post at Fort Campbell, come find out!
In related news, a region update.
Madisonville-North Hopkins defeated Caldwell County three sets to none on Tuesday. Meanwhile Henderson County defeated Webster County by the same score and Crittenden defeated Livingston Central as well by that score. The draw for the region tournament will occur, more than likely Friday morning, after the championship game is played Thursday night.