History was going to be made one way or the other in the opening match of the second night of quarterfinal play in the 2nd Region volleyball tournament at Madisonville-North Hopkins Tuesday evening. Neither Crittenden County or Webster County had ever won a match in regional volleyball play, and they were matched up against each other for the right to advance to the regional semifinals.
Turns out, it was the Lady Rockets who ended up making history. Crittenden County pulled off a furious rally from two sets down to get the win over Webster County and advanced on to Wednesday night’s semifinal round.
The two teams had split their regular season matchups. Crittenden County winning in five sets in Dixon, and the Lady Trojans winning in four sets in Marion.
The opening set went back and forth in the early going. The set was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, before Crittenden County went on a 7-2 run to go up 13-8. The run was sparked in part by the play of junior Lily Gardner. The Lady Trojans though fought their way back into the set, led by sophomore Maggie Jones. Webster used a 9-2 run to take a 17-15 lead, and the battle was on for the rest of the set. The Lady Trojans were able to hold on to the 2 point lead and take the opening set 25-23.
Webster County continued that momentum over into the early part of the second set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Later in the set, the Lady Trojans used a 7-0 run to extend the lead out to 18-8. The Lady Trojans would then go on to take the set 25-13 and go up 2-0 in the match. Webster County got big plays in the set from Maggie Jones and Lana Eastwood.
The beginning of the third set saw each team take an early three point lead. Things were tight all through the set, with the set being tied at 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15. Trailing 19-17, the Lady Rockets made their bid to stay in the match, ripping off 6 in a row to go up 23-19. They would go on to take the set 25-22 to cut the Webster match lead to two sets to one. Lily Gardner and Ellie Smith came up huge down the stretch for the Lady Rockets.
The beginning of the 4th set saw the Lady Rocket keep that momentum going. Crittenden County jumped out to a 16-7 lead and looked to be rolling towards forcing a deciding 5th set. Webster County, however, would not go quietly in the set. The Lady Trojans fought back and got as close as 21-18 before the Lady Rockets managed to go on and take the set 25-18 by scoring the final four points to even the match at 2-2. Again, Lily Gardner’s play was a big part of the set win for the Lady Rockets.
The deciding fifth set was one that left no fingernails intact on the fans in attendance. The set was tied at 2,3,4,6, 7, 9. With the set tied at 9-9, Crittenden County used 3 aces to key a 6-1 run to close out the set 15-10, take the match at 3-2, and complete a stunning rally to advance on to the semifinals.
The win improves Crittenden County to 15-17 on the season, while Webster County finishes at 17-16.
