SEMIFINAL BOUND: Southwestern and West Jessamine advance in first round of region tournament

Photo by Jacob Pratt: The Southwestern volleyball team celebrates after defeating Garrard County 3-1 in the first round of the 12th Region Tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024.

NICHOLASVILLE - Day two of the 12th Region Volleyball Tournament at West Jessamine High School saw both favorites advance, as Southwestern downed Garrard County and the hosting Colts took care of Casey County, albeit with early struggles in both games.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Southwestern senior Adison Black (24) attempts to spike the ball past Garrard County seniors McKenzie Martin (7) and Hannah Fuller (18) during the Warriors' victory over the Lions on Tuesday.

In game one, Southwestern was hoping to make short work of the Garrard County Lady Lions, the lone team in the eight-team field to come into the tournament with a sub-.500 record. However, the Lions gave the Warriors everything they could handle in a four-set match before Southwestern eventually took over in a 3-1 victory (25-15, 22-25, 25-14, 25-14).

It was a battle between Adison Black and MaKenna Allen early on in the first set, with the two seniors trading kills. Eventually, the Warriors took control after kills from Black and Chloe Mabe as they led 12-8. Every single time the Lady Lions looked like they were building momentum, the Warriors would earn a kill to stop it in its tracks. 

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Garrard County senior Hannah Fuller dives in an attempt to keep the ball alive during the game between the Lady Lions and the Southwestern Warriors on Tuesday.

A kill from Halle Norvell put her team ahead 19-13 to force a Garrard County timeout, and there was no stopping the Warriors in the set. Megan Loudermilk launched the set-winning kill to hand Southwestern the first set 25-15.

Garrard was on fire to start the second set, as solid hitting from McKenzie Martin got the Lions out to a quick 6-0 lead. An ace from Allen put Garrard ahead 9-2 and forced Southwestern head coach Mitzi Jones to call for a timeout. A 9-2 spree from the Warriors soon tied things up at 11-11 as the set was getting very interesting midway through.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Garrard County senior McKenzie Martin (7) attempts to tip the ball past the block of Southwestern junior Addison Baldwin (21) during the Lions' loss to the Warriors on Tuesday evening.

As the set wore on, neither team was able to get ahead by much. A kill from Norvell knotted things up at 20-20. Just as it looked like Southwestern was going to make the comeback, a kill from  Martin put the Lions on set point before an attacking error handed Garrard County a 25-22 win to tie things up 1-1 in the match.

More of the same back-and-forth action dominated the early part of the third set, but some kills from Black began to get the Warriors rolling once again. After two straight kills from Norvell, the Lions were forced to take a timeout down 11-7.

Things went from bad to worse following the timeout for Garrard County, as soon the Warriors led 18-10. Despite two late kills from Martin, the set wouldn’t last for much longer a set-winning kill came from Black to hand the Warriors a 25-14 victory.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Southwestern senior Megan Loudermilk (5) attempts to hit the ball between Garrard County seniors Alicia Gabbard (29) and Hannah Fuller (18) during the Warriors' contest against the Lions on Tuesday at West Jessamine.

After an ace from Kayley Board, the fourth set was all Southwestern early on following kills from Loudermilk, Black and Norvell, with Garrard forced to spend a timeout down 7-2. Out of that timeout, the Warriors went on a 9-1 run to take complete control of the fourth set up 16-3.

With Mabe, Norvell and Black beginning to take charge up front, the Lions had little chance of a comeback late in the set. Two straight blocks from Brynn Troxell put the Warriors on match point before a game-winning kill from Zoie Lowery handed Southwestern a 25-14 set win and the 3-1 match victory.

Southwestern improves to 29-9 and will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.

Garrard County finishes their season with a record of 12-19. Best of luck to seniors MaKenna Allen, Jeslyn Baier, Hannah Fuller, Alicia Gabbard and McKenzie Martin on all of their future endeavors.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: West Jessamine junior Tori Daleng rises high in the air for a kill attempt during the Colts' 3-0 victory over Casey County on Tuesday.

The final game of the quarterfinals saw the defending champions and the hosting team of West Jessamine taking on a Casey County team appearing in their first regional tournament since 2016. The Lady Rebels performed admirably before they were outmatched by the Colts, with the hosts eventually eliminating their opponents via a 3-0 sweep (25-15. 25-4, 25-15).

A block and kill from Tori Daleng got the Colts out to a quick 2-1 lead in the first set, before kills from Amy Lee, Kate Barnes and Aslan Wethington allowed the Rebels to get ahead 6-4 as they were putting pressure on the defending regional champions. Casey kept traded points with West, but the Colts were not getting frustrated despite the back-and-forth action.

The Colts managed to go on a massive 11-0 run midway through the set, as Sienna Schantz had multiple aces and held her serve perfectly. A kill from Barnes finally broke the long run, but it was far too late for the Rebels to make any sort of comeback. A double hit by Casey eventually handed the set to West Jessamine 25-14 to put the hosts up 1-0 in the match.

Daleng was going crazy with kills opening up play in the second set and, along with an ace from Riley Cissell, West built a 9-1 advantage rather quickly and forced Casey County to call for a very early timeout. Following more kills from Deleng and Anna Boikov, the Colts held a massive 16-1 lead midway through the set.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Casey County junior Elizabeth Forbes (21) attempts to get the ball past the blocks of West Jessamine senior Callaway Marsh (27) and sophomore Kaylee Rexroad-Hardin (23) during the Rebels' loss to the Colts on Tuesday night.

You’ve heard of the old adage “when it rains it pours,” and that is exactly what happened to the visitors as the Colts were really settling in out on their home court. Kills from Ashlyn Crutcher, as well as an ace from Callaway Marsh, put the Colts on set point at 24-4. Marsh put the exclamation point on the second set win as well, as her service ace handed West a 25-4 win.

Kills from Crutcher and Daleng once again gave the Colts a quick lead in the third set at 11-3 as it looked like the home team was just running away with this one. Elizabeth Forbes had a solid kill midway through the set, but the Rebels couldn’t get anything going consistently on the offensive end of the things.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: West Jessamine senior Callaway Marsh (27) rises up for a block attempt on a hit from Casey County junior Aslan Wethington (10) during the contest between the Colts and the Lady Rebels on Tuesday.

Some attacking errors finally gave the Rebels some points on the scoreboard as it looked like Casey was starting to get a slight bit of momentum. That quickly disappeared though after a kill from Crutcher put the Colts on match point. They wasted little time ending the contest too, as a spike from Daleng ended the quarterfinals with a 25-15 third set victory for the Colts to give the hosts a 3-0 sweep over the Rebels.

West Jessamine improves to 22-16 and will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.

Casey County finishes the season with a record of 18-16. Best of luck to seniors Kate Barnes, Lakin Blevins, Aaliyah Burt, Gracie Demrow, Bryanna Grider, Jasmin Hernandez and Shelby McQueary on all of their future endeavors.

The semifinals of the 12th Region Tournament are now set. Pulaski County will take on Boyle County in the first game on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., with Southwestern and West Jessamine renewing their rivalry in the second game to follow.

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