For the 12th straight year, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs have won the Second District volleyball tournament and for the third straight year the title comes against the Community Christian Academy Lady Warriors. The Lady Mustangs got the job done like they have all season, with a 3-0 sweep over their fellow district opponent (25-9, 25-10, 25-16)
McCracken County has been perfect against the Lady Warriors since first meeting in 2013, never dropping a set, and that streak continues.
“This season has been amazing,” McCracken County head coach Chancie Coleman said. “I have two seniors who have stepped up as leaders since the day we stepped back into the gym in July. They all workout every morning and practice every night without complain and it’s just nice to see their hard work rewarded where all of our fans are here to watch us play.”
The early stages of the opening set featured a close battle as the Lady Warriors would answer after a big kill from either Addison Hart or Elizabeth Gilbert. The Lady Mustangs started to run away with it after an ace from Hart knotted the score 4-4 and Gilbert piled on a kill to follow to take the lead they never looked back from.
With a 12-5 lead, the Lady Warriors stopped play to gather their composure and discuss some changes, and for a moment, that worked. They would score the next two, but a kill from Reagan Hill would get McCracken moving again. They would go on a big 8-0 run to go up 20-8 and would seal the deal at 25-9.
Hill would start off the second with a kill to get the ball rolling and precise service from Caroline Presswood would boost the Lady Mustangs to a 7-0 lead capped off by an ace. CCA would interrupt the run with two quick points, but the Lady Mustangs wouldn’t slow down, building to an eventual 25-10 win emphasized by an ace from Elli Streutker.
The middle portion of the third set was a close one as teams exchanged blows including aces from both Elizabeth Gilbert for McCracken and Natalie Truitt for CCA. The score was knotted up 12-12 and was never more than two points separated, but the Lady Mustangs started to pull away.
McCracken County slowly started to walk away with it, ultimately closing the night with a kill from Streutker to win the night 25-16.
Emma Wring led the Lady Warriors with five kills on the night followed by Lauren Fugate with three, Katie and Natalie Truitt both with two and one from Kendall Cartwright. The Truitt sisters each tallied an ace and Katie Truitt led the way with 11 digs.
Addison Hart led the Lady Mustangs with five service aces on the night and 18 kills. Elizabeth Gilbert had nine kills and an ace. The Lady Mustangs tallied 13 aces on the night to help dominate the victory.
Both teams will now turn to the First Region tournament held at Ballard Memorial High School next week. For the Lady Warriors, they have seen and found success against several opponents that they might match up with next week, while the Lady Mustangs will be going in fresh.
McCracken County has put on a solid schedule against plenty of highly ranked state opponents, but have only ever played Paducah Tilghman, St. Mary and CCA as local opponents. But, Coach Coleman says her girls are ready to face the rest of the top First Region talent.
“We haven’t seen what teams like Marshall and the other teams from the district have, but we have watched some film from some of these teams and we’ve been breaking it down in practice, so hopefully we can put into action what we’ve prepared for.”
The First Region tournament gets underway next week at Ballard Memorial High School.