The McCracken County Lady Mustangs defeated the Murray Lady Tigers in the First Region volleyball tournament in straight sets on Tuesday night. This win advances them to the championship match for the 12th consecutive time, which is every year since the opening of the school. They will face Community Christian Academy, a familiar First District opponent, to decide the title.
“I think we came together with the exact timing we wanted to,” McCracken head coach Chancie Coleman said. “Back in July we set milestones and goals of what we wanted to hit and when we wanted to, and we’ve hit pretty much every one of those goals.”
The Lady Mustangs were never losing at any point throughout this match, and that was evident all the way until the end. Murray was able to keep it close in the early stages of the first set, with them only trailing 13-10, but McCracken proved to be too overpowering, winning the first set 25-15.
The senior tandem Addison Hart and Elizabeth Gilbert were unstoppable up front, both creating powerful kills the Murray defense could not handle. Gilbert led the team with 12, while Hart was a close second with 11.
McCracken jumped out to a commanding lead in the second set, reaching a whopping 11-0 before the Lady Tigers could get a point on the board. Murray was able to string a couple points together towards the end of the set, but still fell 25-8.
The final set proved to be no different, with Caroline Presswood helping the Lady Mustangs jump out to a lead with her serving at the beginning of the set. They continued to apply pressure, and managed to get a 9-0 in the middle of the set. They finally closed out the match with the final score of 25-7.
The Murray Lady Tigers’ season should be deemed successful as they improved vastly from last season. They finished the season with a record of 18-11, a huge improvement from last year’s eight-win squad.
McCracken is once again one win away from the First Region title. In region tournament play, they have only dropped one set since their inaugural season, with that being last year against Graves County.
The Lady Mustangs will look to continue their dominant run in the championship match on Wednesday night at Ballard Memorial High School at 6 p.m.