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STATE-BOUND
Posted On 27 Oct 2011
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The Whitley County Lady Colonels and Corbin Lady Redhounds played for the 13th Region Volleyball title Friday night at Bell County High School.
The Lady Redhounds captured their fourth region title since 2006. Corbin won three consecutive region crowns under former coach Alecia Elwell from 2006-2008. South Laurel won in 2009 and 2010.
The second-ranked Redhounds, who had lost to Whitley County twice during the season, won 25-19, 25-23.
The Lady Colonels eased out to a 5-3 lead only to see Corbin make a run and take a 10-6 lead in the match. Whitey County moved ahead 11-10, but Corbin came on strong and took the lead right back. It was a lead they would never lose, finishing with the six-point victory.
The second match was much like the first with the Lady Colonels easing out to a 9-5 lead, but a 7-1 run by the Lady Redhounds put Corbin on top, 12-10. Although the match was much closer than the first, Corbin held on for a two-point win and swept the Lady Colonels in two games.
Corbin will move on to the KHSAA State Tournament at Bellarmine University in Louisville Thursday where they will take on 15th Region foe, Allen Central. The Lady Rebels are 29-10 on the season and will be making their second appearance in the last three years.
The two teams have one common opponent. They both defeated South Laurel during the regular season.
The 13th region is 2-7 in state tournament play with South Laurel winning in 2003 and 2004. The 15th region has never won a state tournament game since the 16-team format began in 2002.
Whitley County and Corbin earned the right to play in the championship game with semifinal wins over Jackson County and Clay County.
Whitley County, led by seniors Ashley Lindsay, Carley Louthan, Alyssa Monhollen and Brittany Sergent defeated Jackson County Thursday night, 25-15, 25-12.
“There were a couple of times we were a little lackadaisical, but we came out ready to play,” Whitley County Coach David Halcomb said of his team.
“That was one of the main things we talked about before the game,” Halcomb said. Whitley County eased out to a 7-2 lead in the first game and never trailed. They pushed the lead out to ten points (23-13) before winning 25-15.
In the second game, the Lady Generals have quite a fight before falling 25-12. A strong of eight points by Sergent and five by Louthan enabled the Lady Colonels to pull away.
“It took us a little bit to get going in the second game, but once we got started we did a good job finishing,” Halcomb said.
“We may have overplayed them a little bit,” Halcomb said.
Corbin reached the tournament finals with a 20-25, 25-11, 25-21 win over Clay County. The Lady Tigers came out strong and jumped on the Lady Redhounds 7-2. Corbin rallied late in the first set and pulled within a point on several occasions, but senior Sydni Combs led the Lady Tigers to the five-point win.
A determined Corbin team came out ready to play in the second set and jumped all over Clay County, scoring the nine points of the match. Corbin owned the game from start to finish.
In the third and final set, Corbin again ran out to a 5-1 lead, but this time the Lady Tigers battled back to within one, 22-21. Junior Allie Roaden served up the final two points as Corbin got the win.
“We took too long to react,” Corbin Coach Liberty Roberts said. “She told her team after the first set that they were doing things they had corrected a month ago. I told them to go out in that second set and play them as hard as they just played us.”
“I don’t know if they thought they could come out and go through these games easily, but it sure looked like that and they got surprised,” Roberts said of the Clay County challenge.
Roberts felt her team may have overlooked Clay County. “I didn’t see much that Clay County didn’t go after. They went after everything that they could possibly get to.”
“We got down so much I didn’t know if we could come back or not,” added Roberts.
Roberts credited Vanessa Wiseman’s play in the comeback. “It’s hard to rely on one person, but I think she gave the team a big boost with her energy.”
