Lady Colonels volleyball off to a great start after district win and strong showing in Champions of the Mountains Classic

Senior Chelsea Bozeman serves.  

The Whitley County Lady Colonels volleyball team picked up their first district win of the 2014 season in convincing fashion last Thursday evening, defeating visiting Knox Central 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-20).

The win came despite the absence of senior Kelsey Osborne, who was away helping a close friend who had just undergone surgery at UK Hospital.

Osborne’s teammates stepped up, and were more than ready to answer the challenge of the Lady Panthers, going on an 8-2 run to start the first set, thanks in large part to junior Lauren Elliott, who served and played defense very effectively.

Senior Chelsea Bozeman also impressed, leading the 6-2 charge that resulted in Whitley County getting the 25-13 win.

Bozeman continued to show strong leadership in the second set, serving the ball 10 straight times as the Lady Colonels took a commanding 10-2 lead to start things off. Her serves, coupled with a dominating net presence from the likes of Taylor Dingess, Becky Miller and Briana Maynes, helped the team cruise to another 25-13 victory.

Knox Central fared a little better in the third and deciding set. The action was more back and forth, but Whitley was able to pull together a team effort and come out on top of the final 25-20 decision.

“Knox Central is a district opponent, and we do seed our district, so it was good to get that first district win under our belts” said Lady Colonels Head Coach David Halcomb after the game.

“I thought we played well. We had a little lapse in the third set, but overall I thought we played pretty well.”

Since the win over the Lady Panthers, Halcomb and company went 2-2 at the Champions of the Mountains Classic in Pikeville on Saturday, including a 2-1 victory over the Corbin Lady Redhounds. On Monday, they defeated Bell County3-1 (25-6, 25-16, 15-25, 25-10). Their next district matchup will be against Lynn Camp at home on Tuesday, September 2.

Senior Taylor Dingess goes up for a kill.

Photos by TREVOR SHERMAN