Up for the kill attempt at the net goes Peebles’ Payton Johnson (5) as the Lady Indians downed Fayetteville in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
2-0 in conference action
Peebles’ Ellie Stephens digs out a return in the Lady Indians’ August 24 win over Fayetteville. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It was a busy first week for Coach Annie Gustin and her Peebles Lady Indians varsity volleyball squad as Coach Gustin and her troops squeezed in five matches in a six-day period. There are high expectations this season for the Peebles girls, picked by the coaches of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as the favorite to win the big school division with a team roster that boasts seven seniors.
The opening week for Peebles included two conference matches and three non-conference affairs, and when the dust settled, the Lady Indians stood with a 3-2 overall mark but with victories in their first two SHAC contests. Peebles opened on August 21 with a three-set win over Piketon in non-conference play, then backed that up with a four-set conference win over Lynchburg the next night.
After a night off, the Lady Indians were on their home court for the third time, hosting the Fayetteville Lady Rockets in a conference match. The home team had little trouble disposing of their August 24 conference foe, taking down the Lady Rockets in straight sets, 25-18, 25-12, 25-16.
The first set against Fayetteville set an early tone as the Lady Indians began with a trio of service aces from Baylie Johnston, only to see the Lady Rockets recover and tie the score. With Abigail Smalley at the serve and Angel Gray at the net, the home team went up 8-4 only to again see Fayetteville come off the mat, this time to claim a 9-8 advantage. Peebles rallied to go up 12-10 on a Caydence Carroll kill and the kept that lead the rest of the set. The Lady Rockets closed to within 21-18 late but the set closed out on three serves by Ellie Stephens and a Johnston kill for the final point in a 25-18 win.
In the middle set, Fayetteville held a 4-2 early advantage but the Lady Indians reeled off five straight, three of them coming on aces from Carroll serves. The home team continued to pad their lead, moving up 16-10 on a Carroll kill and then 20-10 when Carroll served three straight points. Peebles closed the second set as they did the first, with Stephens serving, going up 2-0 in the match with the 25-12 victory.
The Lady Indians handled business in what turned out to be the final set, taking a big 15-6 lead behind some strong play from senior Payton Johnson. The Lady Rockets hung around and cut the deficit to 19-14, but the Lady Indians claimed six of the set’s final eight points, the last three coming on powerful service aces from Johnson as the home team claimed the match with a 25-16 win.
“Fayetteville had a lot of trouble tonight passing our serves and our hits,” said Peebles head coach Annie Gustin. “We had struggled two nights ago with Lynchburg but our girls came out tonight and took care of business in the middle of a very long week for us. So many girls played well tonight and especially Payton Johnson’s jump serve was effective and has been in all three matches thus far. It’s always good to get a league win though.”
After winning their first three matches, the Lady Indians stumbled a bit on Saturday as they hosted a tri-match with Southeastern and Western Latham and ended up losing to both visitors. “We just didn’t play very well,” said Coach Gustin.
Ending that first week at 3-2, the Lady Indians were back in action on Tuesday night, hosting Eastern Brown in conference play and then staying in the SHAC on Thursday with a trip across the county border to Ripley.
