Marshall County and Community Christian met on the volleyball court Tuesday night at Ballard Memorial to decide who will advance to the Region 1 Championship. It was a classic five set battle and one of those matches that a winner had to be declared but both very deserving of the trip to the title game.
At the end of five highly competitive sets, it was the Lady Warriors who earned the spot in the championship game against McCracken County. With the Marshall County number listed first, set scores were 27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 12-15.
In their two regular season matches, the Lady Marshals won the first one 3-1 and CCA took the second by the same score so it was inevitable that Tuesday’s semifinal would be a battle.
The Lady Marshals held a slight lead in set one before CCA’s Lauren Fugate knotted it up at 15 on a successful kill. Six more ties in the set were highlighted by an ace by Laney Yates and kills from Olivia Hawkins and Kylie Merrick. Merrick’s kill broke a 25-25 tie and the Lady Marshals went on to win set one 27-25 on an ace by Bella Redden.
After a tightly contested start to set two, CCA began to pull away at 13-7. Trailing 17-11, the Lady Marshals were boosted by five nearly back-to-back kills from Olivia Hawkins and consistent serving from Raegan Carmichael to cut the CCA lead to 22-19. The Lady Warriors momentum carried them through to a 25-23 set win to tie the match 1-1.
Tied 5-5 in set three, CCA began to push out the lead forcing the Lady Marshals into another big effort to close the gap. Trailing by seven, a kill by Hawkins cut the CCA lead to 20-14 and it was the start of another hot streak of kills and attacks from the junior that fueled an 11-0 run and gave the Lady Marshals a 24-10 lead on their way to take set three 25-22 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Set four followed the same pattern as the two previous with the Lady Warriors taking the lead and holding off runs by the Lady Marshals. With a one-point lead at 18-17, CCA went on a 6-0 run to go up 24-17. The Lady Marshals answered with a run of four straight points but the set went to CCA 25-21 to tie the match at 2-2.
In the fifth tiebreaker set, CCA jumped out to an 8-2 lead before a tip that found a hole by Emma Reynolds stopped the run. That was the start of a 5-0 Marshall County run behind the serves of Merrick to trim the CCA lead to 8-7. Great rallies led to a 9-9 tie and the Lady Marshals took a 10-9 lead on a kill by Redden. A successful tip by Catherine Shelton tied the set at 12-12 before CCA ticked off the final three points to take the match.
For the Lady Marshals, Hawkins led in kills with 16, Yates had eight, Shelton seven, Redden six and Merrick four. Maleah Terry had 21 digs, Hawkins 21 and Reynolds 20. Reynolds had 27 assists. Carmichael and Hadley Barrett had two aces each.
A great 2024 season for the Lady Marshals ends with a record of 16-6. CCA’s last appearance in the Region 1 Championship came in 2013.
