Youth and inexperience showed up in abundance for the University Heights Academy volleyball team over the weekend at the Bluegrass State Games in Lexington.
UHA returns only one starter from last year’s Region 2 championship team and the Lady Blazers ran into a buzz-saw in their first match Friday. Southwestern defeated UHA 21-5, 21-11. In the Lady Blazers’ second match on Friday, host Lexington Lafayette won 21-2, 21-10.
Saturday’s pool play saw UHA improve their play, forcing three sets in all three matches. The Lady Blazers fell to Walton Verona (21-16, 14-21, 10-15), Presentation Academy (21-17, 15-21, 15-17), and Louisville Eastern (21-6, 17-21, 9-15).
UHA was forced to forfeit their bracket play game Sunday against Christian County. Lady Blazers’ coach Faye Hendricks said a late scheduling change Saturday night made it difficult for UHA to get all its players to Sunday’s match on time.
Overall, Hendricks said she saw growth in her team at the tournament, especially on Saturday.
“Three sets all day, and same pattern too,” Hendricks said. “We made some solid progress in team play. We only had seven kids, so they were pretty tired and hungry when we finished.”