A very good week for the Caldwell County Lady Tigers volleyball team, almost turned into a spectacular week. Caldwell County made it all the way to the final of the Gold Bracket of the Toyota of Hopkinsville Western Kentucky Smackdown before falling to the 3rd Region favorite Apollo in straight sets.
The tournament capped off a week in which the Lady Tigers beat UHA, Henderson County, Graves County, and Southwestern, and established themselves as the favorite to win the 2nd Region championship.
In pool play Friday night and early Saturday morning, the Lady Tigers went 3-0 to place themselves in the championship Gold Bracket. They opened by beating Muhlenberg County 25-10 and 25-15. In their second match Friday night, Paducah Tilghman gave the Lady Tigers all they wanted before Caldwell County finally won the match in three sets, 25-14, 22-25, and 25-14.
Saturday morning, Caldwell County wrapped up the top seed out of Pool B by outlasting Graves County in three sets 22-25, 25-19, and 25-15.
In their first match in the Gold Bracket Saturday afternoon, Caldwell County was matched up against Southwestern. Southwestern got out to a 15-8 lead in the opening set. The Lady Warriors were leading 19-14 when the Lady Tigers made their move. Caldwell County outscored Southwestern 11-4 to finish out the set and get the 25-23 win. Sheadon Allen was huge for Caldwell County with 7 kills in the set. Olivia Mitchell added 4.
The second set saw the Lady Tigers with another rally. The first half of the set the two teams went back and forth with neither able to generate sustained momentum. The Lady Warriors managed to work their way out to a 17-14 lead. Caldwell County scored the next six points to take a 20-17 lead, a lead that they would not give up as they held on to take the set 25-23 and complete the two set sweep. Olivia Mitchell came up big for Caldwell County with seven kills in the set.
In the Gold Bracket championship match, the Apollo E-Gals showed why they are the favorites to take home the 3rd Region championship. Caldwell County was leading 6-5 in the first set when Apollo went on a 12-3 run to take a 17-9 lead. The E-Gals rolled through the rest of the set to take a 25-15 win.
Apollo opened the second set on a 5-0 spurt and were never seriously threatened from that point forward. The E-Gals won the set 25-16 to complete the sweep and win the tournament championship.
Caldwell County finishes the regular season at 22-8. The Lady Tigers will play in the 7th District championship game Tuesday against either Madisonville or Hopkins Central at Madisonville.
