WHITLEY CO. WINS

 The Whitley County Lady Colonels volleyball team opened their season on a winning note Thursday night in Lawson Gym. Whitley County won over Harlan County, 25-17, 25-19.

The Lady Colonels broke out to a 7-1 lead in the first game and never looked back. With three aces by Alyssa Monhollen and a kill by Kayla Sears, the Lady Colonels scored seven of the first eight points. They were able to push the lead out to 13-3 on a kill by Elizabeth Patrick before Harlan County Coach Donna Vicini called a time-out.

The Lady Bears worked their way back into the game and pulled within 13-9 before Whitley County could break the serve.

Whitley County couldn’t put the game away and saw Harlan County get within 17-15 before the Lady Colonels went on a 8-2 run as Monhollen and Sears went to war.

“I thought they came out ready to play,” said Whitley County Coach David Halcomb. “We had a little lapse in the middle part of that game where we could have done better.”

“Overall, I was pleased in the first game,” he said. “We have to work on our spacing on the front row but, we played the net pretty well overall.”

“Elizabeth Patrick grew up a whole lot tonight, it was her first varsity game,” said Halcomb. “She had three or four blocks and a couple of kills.”

“Combine her with Kayla (Sears) and Alyssa, we can do some pretty good things,” Halcomb said.

The Lady Colonels found out they could come from behind as well. The second game had four lead changes before Whitley County took the lead for good on a Patrick block, giving the Lady Colonels a 14-13 lead with junior Brittany Sergent serving five unanswered points.

Whitley County trailed by one (13-12) when Sergent took her first serve and led 17-13 when the ball sailed out of bounds giving Harlan County a rally point.

Erin Tolliver scored a point for the Lady Bears before Caitlyn Walden served up five more points to put the Lady Colonels in control of the game, 22-15. Sears had two kills in the five-point run.

“Harlan County, traditionally has a decent team and they already had a game under their belts against Bell County,” said Halcomb. “It was a good win for us, we had some kids to step up. I am really proud of Nicole Lee, she came in and gave us some good passing. Caitlyn did a good job and Candis Powell and Carley Louthan did a good job setting.”

“We’ve got a long way to go and some things to work on, but we have a lot of talent out there,” said Halcomb.

Whitley County picked up a district win over the Lynn Camp Lady Wildcats Monday night at Lawson Gym, winning 25-10, 25-6.

The Lady Colonels will play in the McCreary Central Invitational Friday and Saturday. Whitley County will play Clinton County, Wayne County, North Laurel, Burgin and Barren County in pool play. Other teams in the tournament are Monticello, Adair County, Lincoln County and Somerset.