With Head Coach Brian Hardison unable to attend due to medical reasons, the Lady Aces banded together and came back to defeat Daviess County volleyball for him in four sets (18-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-17).
The Lady Panthers came out of the gates strong, using a 4-0 run to take a 9-4 lead after both teams traded points to begin the match.
Owensboro Catholic hung around throughout the opening set, even cutting it to 20-18 with a 3-0 run, but Daviess County’s aggressive offense helped them get out to a 25-19 victory.
Up 19-14 in the second set it seemed as though the Lady Panthers would walk away with the second set as well, but the Lady Aces had other ideas.
Owensboro Catholic went on a 3-0 run to make it a 19-17 game, before later grabbing the lead at 23-22 with another 3-0 run which was sparked by sophomore Kennedy Murphy.
Daviess County responded swiftly and tied things up at 23-23, but the Lady Aces won the next two points to even the match up at 1-1 with the 25-23 set win.
Owensboro Catholic now had some momentum and the crowd behind them and carried it into the third set.
The Lady Aces jumped out an 8-2 lead and forced Daviess County to take a timeout. Nothing changed following the timeout, as Owensboro Catholic’s defense continued to make impressive digs and keep volleys alive.
The Lady Aces were able to use these efforts defensively to create offense and eventually took the third set 25-15 to go up 2-1.
The Lady Panthers were determined to bounce back in the fourth set and make a comeback win happen just like they did the first time the two met back in August, making Owensboro Catholic battle for every point.
This led to Owensboro Catholic leading narrowly at 7-6, until their high energy on the court and from the crowd propelled them out in front 15-9.
Trailing 20-12 later in the set, Daviess County used a 3-0 run to make it 20-15. This was the final push from the Lady Panthers, as Owensboro Catholic stifled them and earned a 25-17 set win to claim the match 3-1.
Assistant Coach Beck Taylor said that the girls really wanted to get the win over a big opponent in Daviess County, but really wanted to get the win for Hardison.
Hardison missed the game and was in the hospital because had an undisclosed surgery done that kept him from the match. The team is unsure of what’s next for Hardison, but either way his team is still going to fight for him.
Taylor said that while Hardison did not want to miss the game, he was with them in spirit and in love and knew that they would be in good hands with seniors Cate Sights and Hadley Latham leading the charge.
“I think leadership really took over,” Sights said. “Since Brian wasn’t here, me and Hadley had to step up.”
Early on in the match junior Josie Newcom was wreaking havoc on the Lady Aces and Sights said they needed time to figure out how to handle her aggressive attacks.
“Josie is a super strong hitter and they were throwing her every time,” Sights said. “It took us a long time to figure out how to read her.”
Sights said they made a few adjustments like moving junior Emily Christian to line and taking some hitters off to pass when Newcom was hitting that made a big difference.
Once they were able to do that and string together points, the crowd got behind them and gave them a huge boost that Sights and company truly appreciated.
“It helps our energy so much and brings the momentum to this side,” Sights said. “We love it when they come.”
Sights finished the game with a team-leading 19 kills, but also put up a valiant defensive effort with a team-leading 33 digs.
Multiple players finished in double figures for digs, including sophomore Blair Riney (20), senior Grace Moseley (16), Christian (11) and junior Paige Miles (10).
Miles (27) and Murphy (17) set up the team offensively all night, combining for all 44 of the team’s assists on the night.
Freshman Olivia Castlen was a crucial defender up front, recording seven of the Lady Aces’ 17 blocks on the night.
The win moves Owensboro Catholic to 17-5 overall, as they hold onto a five-game winning streak going into the Quad State Tournament starting on Friday. Meanwhile, Daviess County sits at 14-9 overall and will look to bounce back when they take on Breckinridge County at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
