IT'S A MAROON MORNING: Pulaski takes down Southwestern in crosstown battle

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Members of the Pulaski County volleyball team celebrate after earning a point during the Lady Maroons' 2-0 victory over Southwestern on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025.

SOMERSET - On a cloudy Saturday morning, the Lady Maroons and Lady Warriors did battle at the Pulaski County gymnasium in a crosstown battle out on the volleyball court. With several new faces adorning the starting lineups for both teams, it was Pulaski that ended up sweeping the Warriors in a 2-0 victory (25-20, 25-11).

The Warriors didn't feel like the visiting team, at least at first, as they got out to a quick 6-1 lead following a couple aces plus a kill from Andrea West. This forced Pulaski to quickly call for a timeout. Although they traded points for a bit, it seemed like the timeout did exactly what it intended to do as Southwestern was soon calling a timeout following a kill from Lilee Todd that put the home team ahead 10-9.

Neither team could build much of a lead midway through the set, although that quickly changed after an ace from Olivia Travis and a few attacking errors by the visitors, forcing the Warriors to call for another timeout down 19-15. Southwestern attempted to battle back, but after a kill from Lakelynn Dykes, the Warriors had an attacking error that handed the set to the Maroons 25-20.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Southwestern sophomore Jillian Sweet (32) attempts to earn a kill past the block of Pulaski County senior Kaylee Kissinger (21) during the Lady Warriors' contest against the Lady Maroons on Saturday morning.

Things seemed to quickly go wrong for Southwestern in the second set. Bryleigh Scruggs had a service ace to begin play, and after kills from Sammie Blevins and Travis, the Maroons were quickly ahead 5-1. Kills from West, Claire Hudson and Zoie Lowery kept the Warriors afloat, but the Maroons went ahead 18-11 after a kill from Blevins, forcing another Southwestern timeout.

If things were going bad for the Warriors to start off the set, then things were just atrocious out of the timeout. Travis had an 'ace party' out of that timeout, earning an ace on four of the next six serves as the junior's serve could not be stopped. A kill from Blevins put the exclamation point on a dominant showing in the second set for the Maroons, as they closed it on a 10-0 run to take the set 25-11 and the game 2-0 over their bitter rivals.

This was Pulaski's fifth win in their last 24 games against Southwestern, but their fifth in the most recent seven meetings.

Pulaski, after taking on West Jessamine in a later game on Saturday, will next travel to North Laurel to take on the Lady Jaguars on Tuesday.

Southwestern will also take on West Jessamine on Saturday, and will next host the Boyle County Lady Rebels on Tuesday at the Wig Wam.