The Heritage Christian Academy Lady Warriors are the Region 2 Volleyball Tournament champions after defeating Union County 3-1 Thursday night at Hopkinsville High School.
The Lady Warriors won their 11th straight match 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18 to advance to the KHSAA State Volleyball Tournament for the first time in school history.
HCA Coach Grace Stewart said she was proud and thankful for the school’s first Region 2 championship.
The opening two sets were closely contested with both teams taking four-point advantages at different times. Grace Conley finished off the first set with a kill to give HCA some momentum heading into the second set.
However, after jumping out to a 9-2 lead, Union County began to chip away at the lead and eventually got within 21-19. However, Makenzie McCarty’s ace gave the Lady Warriors a 24-22 advantage and Bralee Fowler finished off the Bravettes to end the second set.
The third set looked like it would be all Heritage as the Lady Warriors jumped out to an 8-3 lead. But Union powered back and took a 14-12 lead and pulled away for the win.
In the fourth and deciding set, HCA jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Union again rallied and drew within 14-13. After a Lady Warriors timeout, Katie Cansler had an ace and Mya Goodwin had a kill and later, both Cansler and Goodwin had back-to-back kills to push the HCA lead to 19-13.
Cansler said the timeout gave the Lady Warriors a chance to settle down.
Union never threatened again as HCA scored the final three points of the set and triggered a wild celebration on the Tiger Gym floor.
Goodwin led HCA with 27 kills, one assist, seven aces and 27 digs. Conley had 11 kills and three blocks, Cansler finished with eight kills, one assist, one ace and 21 digs. McCarty had three kills, 28 assists, five digs and three aces and Fowler finished with five kills, one ace and one block. Allie Craft had 27 digs and Hadlee Hayes provided 19 digs.
HCA will take on 13th-ranked Bowling Green on Monday at Warrior Gym.
The Lady Warriors improved to 24-5 while Union ended its season at 16-8 and saw its seven-match winning streak come to an end.
Photos by Joe Wilson