It was a moment of elation and eight years of frustration being alleviated at the same instance. That moment was the final point of the 2nd Region volleyball championship as the Caldwell County Lady Tigers completed their sweep of the region tournament by breaking out the broom against Madisonville-North Hopkins at Christian County High School.
The straight set win completed a perfect run through the 2nd Region tourney, and sent the Lady Tigers on to the opening round of the state volleyball tournament, which will be played Monday evening at Caldwell County High School against the winner of the 1st Region tournament.
Caldwell County controlled the match, essentially from the time the two teams stepped on the court. The Lady Tigers opened the first set taking a 5-2 lead. Madisonville battled back to even things up at 7-7. Caldwell County then hit the Lady Maroons with a 13-3 run to take a 20-10 lead. The Lady Tigers would roll on to win the opening set 25-19.
With Kendyll Prowell setting the table, the Lady Tigers attack at the net overwhelmed the Lady Maroons early. Olivia Mitchell had 9 kills in the set. Abby Griggs added six. Savannah Scott added a couple of kills and a big block early in the set. Natalie Collier battled to keep the Lady Maroons in the set, finishing with three kills.
Collier got off to a quick start in the second set as the Lady Maroons took a quick 3-1 lead. But the Lady Tigers were not about to let Madisonville get their hopes up in this championship match. Caldwell County responded with a 10-4 run to go up 11-4. Olivia Mitchell had five kills during the Caldwell County run. With strong play from Riley Thomas, Abby Griggs, and Kendyll Prowell, the Lady Tigers never let the Lady Maroons get close to getting back into the set as they pulled on out to take the set 25-10 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Feeling the title within their grasp, the Lady Tigers put the hammer down quickly in the third set. Caldwell County jumped out to a 7-0 lead. That effectively ended the match, as the Lady Tigers never let Madisonville any closer than five points the rest of the way, as they rolled out to a 25-9 win, completing the sweep and taking home the regional championship trophy for the first time since 2011.
The win completed an impressive run through the tournament, as the Lady Tigers swept all three matches, and only gave up more than 20 points once in a set, that coming in their opening round sweep of Henderson County.
After 30 kills in the semifinals, Olivia Mitchell finished her night with 24 kills and 9 digs. Abby Griggs had a big night with 16 kills, 6 digs, and 5 blocks. Kendyll Prowell, after 39 assists on Tuesday night, had a monster game setting up her teammates with 42 set assists in the championship match. Riley Thomas added 13 digs for the Lady Tigers.
Caldwell County goes to 19-5 on the season and advances to the state tournament for the first time since 2011. With the changes in the format of the tournament this season, the Lady Tigers will host the winner of the 1st Region tournament Monday evening.
