Peebles tops Lady Hounds for second time in 2018 season –
By Mark Carpenter –
For the second time in the 2018 season, it was an all-county volleyball match up featuring the Peebles Lady Indians and the Manchester Lady Greyhounds. The two teams had met in Peebles on Aug. 21, with the Lady Indians coming away with a three-set triumph, and on Tuesday night, the two met again, this time in the Hound Pound by the river and this time with the same results, a Peebles win in three sets. The Lady Indians remained unbeaten in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play, knocking off the host Lady Hounds, 25-16, 25-12, 25-20.
In the opening set on Tuesday, the Lady Hounds jumped to a 5-1 lead but quickly saw that disappear after three service points from Peebles’ Johna Dunigan, who was subbing for starter Madison Pierce, who was out for the match. Some nifty work around the net by Abby McFarland helped the Lady Hounds take a 9-6 advantage, which they again let slip away as a pair of kills by Kylie Sims boosted the visitors into a 10-10 tie.
“I was impressed with the way Johna stepped in and did her job, really impressed with how she played,”Said Peebles head coach Rachel Sims after the match. “We felt pretty confident most of tonight, even when we let things slide and lost our intensity momentarily.”
The Lady Indians began to pull away at that point, getting six of the set’s next seven points to lead 16-11. A kill by Brooke Kennedy temporarily gave the side out to the Lady Hounds, but they gave it right back to Peebles and the Lady Indians’ Hope Brown reeled off three service points to make it 20-12. Moments later, Dunigan stepped back to serve again and her three in a row put Peebles on top 24-14, and they went on to win the first set 25-16.
Much like the first match up, the Lady Hounds seemed to lose the edge after dropping the first set, and the talented Lady Indians took full advantage, racing to a 10-4 lead early in the second set. The home team rebounded to pull within 10-7 but couldn’t slow done the Peebles surge as the visitors continued to roll, pushing the margin out to 20-10. One point away from taking the set, a Harlee Wilkinson serve culminated in another Sims kills and another Peebles win, 25-12 in set number two.
With their backs to the wall, the Lady Hounds played well as the third set began, keeping the score even on a pair of Kennedy service points and then moving out to an 11-6 lead on the strength of the serves of Aaliyah Smith and a pair of McFarland kills. But as they had all evening, the Manchester squad could not stand prosperity as they allowed their guests to score 10 of the set’s next 12 points, and just as quickly, the Lady Indians were leading 16-13. Much of that damage was done by the serving combo of Jacey Justice and Sims, who combined for half of those points.
Another series of Brown serves combined with a kill by Tatum Arey put Peebles up 21-14 and after a pair of Manchester points, the Indians got points off serve from senior Star Robinson and held on for a 25-20 win in the third set and a 3-0 win in the match, improving them to 5-2 on the season, 5-0 in the conference. Manchester fell to 4-3 on the year, 3-1 in the SHAC, though the Lady Hounds did bounce back to down Franklin Furnace Green on Wednesday night to improve to 5-3.
In Tuesday’s JV match, it was Coach Meriah Kirk’s Lady Hounds improving to 5-1 with a 25-17, 25-15 victory.
