With the help of a loud and revved up student section, the Heritage Christian Academy Lady Warriors advanced to the District 8 Volleyball Tournament finals for the first time with a 3-1 win over host University Heights Academy Tuesday night.
The second-seed Lady Warriors will play Christian County in the finals at 6 p.m. Thursday at UHA. The Lady Colonels defeated Fort Campbell 3-0 in the first semifinal match Tuesday.
But the path to the finals wasn’t easy for the Lady Warriors (20-4), who won the first set 25-19 over the Lady Blazers.
UHA rallied in the second set, leading by as much as seven on the way to a 25-18 win.
With the student sections for both schools cheering each point, the two teams went back and forth in the third set before the Lady Warriors won 25-19.
UHA looked poised to force a fifth and deciding set, leading 14-8 when a Lady Blazer was whistled for a double hit. UHA coach Faye Hendricks disagreed with the call and received a yellow card from the official.
The sequence of events caused the HCA crowd to erupt and the Lady Warriors used the momentum to tie the game at 14-14. The two teams swapped leads a couple of times and were knotted at 23-23 before the Lady Warriors were able to score the final two points and secure the victory.
As the whistle sounded to end the match, the HCA student section spilled onto the floor and celebrated as the Lady Warriors earned a spot in the Region 2 tournament for the first time in school history.
Mya Goodwin had 18 kills, 19 digs and two aces to led HCA. Katie Cansler added seven kills, 14 digs and two aces and Allie Craft had 16 digs. Grace Conley provided eight kills, including two in the final set. She also had two blocks.
Bralee Fowler had two kills, three aces, and five digs and Makenzie McCarty had a kill and nine digs.
UHA senior Olivia Oakley reached a milestone in the loss. Oakley recorded her 1,000th career dig during the first set. Oakley finished with 33 digs and also led the Lady Blazers with 17 kills. Taylor Cantrell added eight kills and Kiley Lambert had six kills.
Katherine Wood had 12 digs and Gretchen Durham added 36 assists for the Lady Blazers (8-22), who will miss qualifying for the district championship game for the first time since 2011.
Photos by Joe Wilson