The Lady Cougar volleyball team improved to 8-4 for the season following their straight-set win (25-11, 28-26) at Muhlenberg County on Tuesday. The JV squad also won in straight sets, 21-19, 22-20.
VARSITY MATCH
The first set was no contest after Kenzie Skaggs served nine unanswered points to give the Lady Cougars a 10-0 lead at the start. Sophomore Ella Robinson had four kills in the early run.
Robinson added two more kills during a 7-0 run that saw the Lady Cougars increase their lead to 13 points, 17-4. The Mustangs were never closer than 11 points the rest of the set.
The second set was tightly contested, with no more than a point of separation until Muhlenberg sophomore Daisy Ritchie served back-to-back aces to give her Mustangs a three-point advantage, 15-12. The Mustangs would later take their largest lead of the match, seven points at 21-14, but the Lady Cougars began to come back at that point.
Trailing by five, 17-22, Brieanna Boll served four straight, including an ace, to make it 21-22.
Down 22-23, libero Laura Higdon served an ace to tie it, before a Mustang hitting error gave the Lady Cougars a match-point at 24-23. Muhlenberg won a rally point, but a hitting error gave Grayson County a second match-point. Once again, though, Muhlenberg took a rally point, then had a set-point at 25-26, but a perfectly-placed dink by Robinson won the serve back at 26-26.
Senior Olivia Lucas put away a kill to give Grayson County a third match-point, 27-26, and when the Mustangs could not get a return in three hits, the Lady Cougars took the match.
JV MATCH
The Young Lady Cougars seemed out of sorts at the start of the game, quickly falling behind by eight points, 4-12, before they woke up and began playing like they are capable of doing.
With sophomore Bailey Richardson serving, the Lady Cougars reeled off six straight to pull to within two of the lead, 10-12.
Trailing 11-13 and with sophomore Chloe Cox serving, a Maddie Duvall kill pulled them to within a point, 12-13. Cox then served back-to-back aces to give the Lady Cougars their first lead of the match, 14-13.
The Mustangs went back on top, but tied at 17-17, Grayson County got a kill and an ace from Rylie Hayes to go up 20-17 and serve for a set-point, 20-17. Muhlenberg won a rally point, but when their next serve was long, the Lady Cougars had the first-set win.
The second set was similar to the first, with the Mustangs taking an early 13-8 lead, only to see the Lady Cougars come back later. Trailing 15-17, Hayes served three straight points to put the Lady Cougars in front for the first time in the set, 18-17.
Grayson County served a match-point at 20-18, but the serve was long, giving the ball back to the home team. They won the next point to tie things at 20-20, but a Cox kill off the block gave Grayson another match-point at 21-20. Katie Skaggs then put the match away with an unreturnable, knuckle-ball serve.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don ar donbrown@k105.com
