By Mark Carpenter
Because of COVID-19 cautions and restrictions, the Manchester High School volleyball schedule was whittled down to 13 matches this season, all of them in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. One of those matches took place at MHS on Thursday, Oct. 1 as the Lady Hounds entertained one of their county rivals, the West Union Lady Dragons.
On paper coming into the Thursday match, the Lady Hounds looked to have a slight edge but contests aren’t played on paper and the Lady Dragons had a bit to say about how tight this one was going to be. Thursday’s match up turned out to be as close as a volleyball match actually can, going the full five sets and being decided by two points in the fifth and decisive set. Down two sets to one to the visiting West Union squad, the Lady Hounds rallied to win the final two sets and pull out an exciting, hard-fought win, 21-25, 25-9, 24-26, 25-18, 15-13.
“We didn’t have much time in the gym this week and it definitely showed tonight,” said Manchester head coach Kaci Compton. “We struggled to find our rhythm and set a record for service errors in a match. We lost our senior setter midway through the match and that seemed to set us back, but the girls pulled it together and made it work in the end.”
In the first set, it was the Lady Hounds jumping to a quick lead behind the serves of Maggie Roberts and some solid net play from Brooke Kennedy. In past matches, the Lady Dragons had issues recovering from service runs but this time was different as they answered with one of their own, eight straight from Madison Taylor to take a 14-9 advantage. The first set then stayed close and back and forth, with the teams swapping points, leading to a 20-20 tie after a Hannah Hobbs kill for the home team. The Lady Dragons closed it out, however, getting five of the last six points, and winning the first set 25-21 after a pair of Kayden Francis service points.
That firs set loss seemed to wake up the Lady Hounds as they controlled the second set, taking a huge 13-3 advantage after six consecutive service points from Kennedy. A later pair of service aces from Karigan Turner extended the lead to 20-4 and the home side rolled to a second set triumph, 25-9.
The Lady Dragons regained their composure as the third set began, breaking a close set open on five service points from Francis combined with an Audrey Weakley kill. That run gave West Union a 13-7 lead and they held that margin until a string of Hobbs serves gave Manchester a 24-21 lead, one point from taking the set. In the past, a late run like that would have demoralized the Lady Dragons, but not this time. The visitors bounced back and scored the final five points of the set, four of those on service points from Korynne Blanton, and it was a Blanton ace that gave her team the third set 26-24 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Late in that second set, a kill by Manchester’s Brooke Kennedy put her at a career milestone as it was kill #500 for the senior hitter.
“I’m incredibly proud of Brooke,” said Coach Compton. “She’s a phenomenal athlete and she has brought so much competitiveness and leadership to our program. We knew she was close to 500 at the end of last season and were afraid our shortened schedule would keep her from reaching the milestone, but I should have known better. Once she sets her mind on something, she accomplishes it, her drive and work ethic are rare to find in student-athletes today and it’s been a privilege for me to coach her the last four years.”
Now down 2-1 in the match,the Lady Hounds needed set four to stay alive and again dominated. With the score even at 4 apiece, the Lady Hounds sent Kennedy back to the service line and she took total control, serving 13 straight points, four of those aces and along with a pair of Turner kills, the home team suddenly had a 17-4 advantage. The Lady Dragons hung around, getting kills from Blanton and Taylor and eventually pulling back within 23-8 after four Weakley service points, but the final two points went to the Lady Hounds who evened the match a two with the 25-18 fourth set victory.
“Karigan (Turner) has really improved her game in the past few weeks,” said Compton. “She had a major slump a bit ago, but she certainly pulled out of it and I was really happen with her performance tonight.”
Whenever a volleyball match goes to a fifth and final set each and every point becomes crucial. In Thursday night’s decisive set, the action was tense as the two teams traded points and were tied at 2, 3, 4, 5,6, and 7 before the Lady Hounds grabbed some breathing room on a trio of Turner service points to lead 10-7.
That lead evaporated quickly as three straight from the Lady Dragons tied the set again at 10 all as the anxiety associated with each point now increased on both sides of the Hound Pound. A service point by Kiersten Saunders accentuated by a Hobbs kill gave Manchester a 12-10 lead but again the resilient Lady Dragons responded to tie the set at 12, but a service error gave the side out and the lead back to the Lady Hounds, who capitalized and a Hobbs serve combined with perfectly placed Kennedy tip accounted for the final point in an exciting come-from-behind match win for the Lady Hounds, taking the fifth set 15-13.
“It wasn’t always pretty volleyball tonight by any means, but our girls didn’t let the errors or changes get to them,” said Coach Compton. “They kept fighting to get the win despite the obstacles.”
With the win, the Lady Hounds improved to 5-6 on the season, with two conference games remaining in regular season play, hosting Whiteoak on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and then returning the favor by traveling to Whiteoak on Oct. 15.
The loss dropped West Union to 2-15 on the year, though the Lady Dragons did pick up win number three on Monday, Oct. 5 with a non-conference victory over Felicity.