DIG PINK

The Whitley County Lady Colonels’ volleyball team hosted Clay County Monday night in their annual Dig Pink Game, a tribute to cancer survivors during Cancer Awareness Month across the USA.

“We put a lot of work into this and it is for a good cause,” said Whitley County Coach David Halcomb. “We are trying to do something to help create more awareness for breast cancer. We had a display set-up out in the lobby.”

With both teams and the officials dressed with pink on their uniforms, it was Whitley County surviving a scare from Clay County. The Lady Colonels held on to win two matches, 25-23 and 26-24.

Clay County came into the game on a four-game losing streak; all four losses came in the Steak-N-Shake Classic at North Laurel last weekend.

Whitley County fell behind in the first match 3-1 and had to battle from behind most of the match. The Lady Colonels trailed 11-7 when Liz Patrick went to the line and served three points to pull Whitley County within a point. Clay County stopped the rally and eventually moved ahead 17-13.

Whitley County tied the game at 17-all and took a one-point lead on a Alyssa Monhollen ace, but Clay County came right back to push their lead back out to two (21-19).

A block by Kayla Sears allowed Whitley County to pull within one and Patrick tied the game once again.

With the game tied at 22-all, Sears went to the line and her teammates answered with two points, putting the Lady Colonels ahead, 24-22. They gave Clay County an opportunity to come back, but a kill by Monhollen won the match, 25-23.

The second match was even closer. There were four ties in the early going before Clay County pushed a lead out to four (10-6). Things looked bleak for the Lady Colonels when Clay County extended its lead to six (20-14). A time-out settled the Lady Colonels and Whitley County pulled within two (20-18) behind Sears four straight points.

It was match point for the Lady Tigers when Patrick hit the ball long giving Clay County a 24-21 lead. But, an out of bounds gave Whitley County a rally point and put Patrick on the serving block.

Sears found a hole in the Clay County defense for a kill and Whitley County tied the score on the ensuing point by Candis Powell. Whitley County added two points to win the match and set.

“I don’t know if we ever found a rhythm, but our kids didn’t quit,” Halcomb said. “We tried a new rotation and I think that messed our rhythm up a little.”

Halcomb was pleased to see Patrick come back after giving up the 24^th point to Clay County. “She has done that about three times. She got on a roll like that at Corbin. She gets a little frustrated sometime, but that’s due to her inexperience. She is a good player and has really helped us out.”

“You have to give Clay County credit too, they were really solid tonight,” Halcomb said.

“I don’t think we played very well tonight,” he added. “We hit so many balls long and wide, we didn’t play real crisp, but with that being said I think we beat a pretty good team in Clay County and didn’t play well.”