The Lady Panthers grabbed a clean sweep against Apollo volleyball on Monday, earning their place in the 9th District Championship (25-12, 25-21, 28-26).
Daviess County came out strong in the first set of the match, taking a 5-1 lead thanks to a 4-0 run after surrendering a point.
Apollo fought back to cut it to 8-6, but the Lady Panthers wasted no time and bounced back to control the second set at 14-10.
Following a 3-0 run for Daviess County, Apollo responded with a two-run to make it 17-12. However, the Lady Panthers would not give and went on an 8-0 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-12 win.
After a 5-5 start in the second set of the game, the Lady Panthers put together a string of runs to jump out to a 13-7 lead.
Later trailing 18-13 after a 3-0 run, Apollo inched its way back into the set at 23-20. However, Daviess County took a timeout and regrouped before securing the 25-21 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
In the third set the E-gals came out with a lot of energy and looked to keep its season alive by rattling the Lady Panthers.
After surrendering the opening point, Apollo grabbed five straight to take the lead. Combine that with a 3-0 run shortly after and they found themselves up 10-4 in the third set.
Daviess County worked it back to 13-9, but the E-gals continued to answer with short runs to stay out in front at 17-14 thanks to strong serving and great blocking to swing momentum according to Head Coach MaryAnne Howard.
“We were able to make some aggressive serving runs and we got some blocks,” Howard said. “I think that really helped spark our defense.”
Up 24-20 it seemed as though they had secured the match, but a net violation made it 24-21 and the Lady Panthers came roaring back.
Daviess County went on a 5-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the third set at 25-24. However, a net violation of their own quickly knotted things up at 25-25.
Tied at 26-26, senior Havanah John reached over the net for a violation and gave the Lady Panthers a 27-26 lead.
A kill from junior Josie Newcom ensued, as Daviess County earned the 28-26 win and secured the 3-0 sweep to advance to 9th District Championship.
“Overall I thought we came out really strong,” Head Coach Tyla Bailey said. “Of course just like every game we had some low moments, but then they were able to finish. I’m very pleased with the comeback and the fight that they had all throughout the match.”
Bailey said that they have some room for improvement going into Thursday, but that they turned it on when they need to on Monday.
“I feel like out of system [play] was really good,” Bailey said. “I feel like once we got started our blocking got a little bit better. We still got a long way to go, but we’re getting a lot better at being aggressive at the net and pressing up and pressing over. And then [we] just collectively were clicking when it counted.”
John was a key part of their comeback as her strong kills made it hard for the Lady Panthers to return the ball at times. Knowing that there will be opponents that can strike like she can in the future, Bailey said that they need to improve their defense in those regards.
“We just focus on getting a big block and not getting beat on the block and just being able to read the hitter,” Bailey said. “Then everyone else just lining up [is key]… From night to night it could be anyone coming out strong, so moving forward we definitely have to do a better job of defending strong hitters.”
Despite some rough patches, the Lady Panther did find some success from the front line blocking, as juniors Lexi Owen (6) and Adylan Ayer (5) combined for 11 of their 14 blocks.
It was a balanced attack offensively for Daviess County, as Ayer (10) and fellow juniors Sydney DeRossitt (8), Mary Grace Hill (7) and Newcom (6) combined for 31 of the team’s 36 kills.
Apollo’s defense gave a valiant effort regardless, as senior Abby Spong (11) and sophomores Kaley and Kelsey Dickinson (9, 9) combined for 29 of its 31 digs.
All in all, Howard was thrilled with her team’s effort and knows that they put together a showdown with a powerful program.
“I feel like there was no lack of effort by our girls,” Howard said. “We talked at the end there about how they can hold their heads high after this. They battled and Daviess County is just a great team with a lot of firepower. At times we were able to make runs, we just weren’t able to sustain it.”
While Apollo finishes the season at 14-21, Howard feels as though they improved as the season went along. Given that young players stepped up on a roster with a core group of seniors with little experience, Howard said they have some bright spots they hope to build on going forward.
“Hardly anybody outside of those seniors played any JV last year, let alone varsity,” Howard said. “So I think as we developed across the season, I think some players really stepped up. Some of our younger players [especially], so that’s a bright spot for the future to see where we go from here.”
Meanwhile Daviess County will now turn their attention to the 9th District Championship, as they will play the winner of Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro on Thursday.
