By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
With five wins in six matches, Coach Kiersten Rowe and her West Union Lady Dragons made the trip across the county border on September 24 for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference battle with the Ripley Lady Jays. West Union had beaten Ripley in four sets two weeks earlier on the Lady Dragons’ home court but this latest match up turned out to be the mirror opposite of the first.
Back on September 11, the Lady Jays had taken the first set, only to see West Union bounce back and take the next three for the match. Last week, the script flipped as it was the Lady Dragons winning the opening set in impressive fashion, only to fall apart and see the host Lady Jays come back and take the match by winning the next three. The first set went to West Union 25-16, but the rest belonged to the home side, 35-18, 25-15, 25-22.
In the victorious opening set, the Lady Dragons took a 9-5 lead after a series of service points from Jocelyn Hall aided by a Kaydence Cook kill. Ripley rallied back to within 10-9 before West Union three of four points to extend their advantage. Up later 16-12, the Lady Dragons put the set on ice with three service points including an ace from Maddie Stout to go up 20-12 and from there they finished off the set with a service ace from Ashlynn Johnson, winning 25-16.
It seemed like every bit of momentum was with the West Union side after the initial set but the “mighty mo” can be a fickle thing. After really controlling the action in the first set, the Lady Dragons jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second set and all was looking good for the visitors. The Lady Dragons later led 12-6 before the proverbial roof caved in. Ripley senior Ivy Bare stepped back to the service line and with the assistance of three kills from teammate Jasmine Young, reeled off 10 consecutive points. After West finally got the ball out of Bare’s hands, they didn’t keep it, giving Ripley two more points that concluded a 13-2 tn and gave the home team the 19-13 lead.
In what was left of the second set, the Lady Dragons played from behind and stayed behind as the Lady Jays evened the match at one apiece with a 25-18 victory.
In set number three, the Lady Jays took the lead early and led from wire-to-wire against a very flat West Union effort. Back to back service aces from Skylar Hare propelled the home team early and they built a six-point advantage (14-9) on an ace from Kathryn Cox. The Lady Dragons just never could find their groove in the third set, getting an ace from Violet Randolph and a kill from Jocelyn Hall, but the momentum was firmly on the home side as they took the third set 25-15.
The fourth set stayed close early, tied at 4, 5 and 6, then the Lady Dragons cored four straight with Lylah Adams at serve to lead 10-9. Ripley’s Ivy Bare served four straight and West Union responded with four of their own with Cook serving to tie the set at 14 apiece. The back and forth continued as the Lady Jays scored four in a row with Cox serving and this time they wouln’t give that lead away.
Another kill from Hall kept the Lady Dragons within striking distance at 21-18 but their opportunities were dwindling away. The possibility of a decisive fifth set stayed dimly alive when West Union drew withing 23-22 but just as quickly the final two points went to the Lady Jays, the set and match ending on a Jasmine Young kill and a 25-22 third set victory for the home side.
As one might imagine, Coach Rowe was not real happy with there team’s performance in the Ripley loss, especailly with a match the next night looming with one of the SHAC’s top squads, the Fairfield Lady Lions. After what was likely a pretty intense pregame meeting, the Lady Dragons put the Ripley loss behind them and upset the Lady Lions in four sets, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18, 25-15.
“I’m proud of my girls for bouncing back and coming out reay to play with Fairfield,” said Rowe. “Four matches in one week is hard but I have never seen us look better. It was all around the best we have played. We have honestly had a good year so far and that Ripley game we just let our emotions get too high and control the play.”
After the Fairfield won, the Lady Dragons stood at 7-7 on the season, 4-3 in conference action. Coach Rowe’s squad gets a schedule break with just two matches this week, at Whiteoak in conference play on September 29 and then at Lynchburg-Clay on Friday, October 2.
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