Caldwell County had McCracken County on its heels early, but the 13th-ranked Lady Mustangs came back to spoil any upset hopes of the Lady Tigers.
Caldwell won the first set 25-16 and led the second set 18-14. But ultimately McCracken got out of Princeton with a 3-1 victory — 16-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19 — in a first round matchup in the 2020 KHSAA State Volleyball Tournament.
The Lady Tigers finish a strong season at 19-6.
The Lady Mustangs are 22-4 and advance to Friday’s quarterfinals at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.
Monday’s match turned late in the second set.
With Caldwell up 18-14, McCracken responded after a timeout, winning seven of the next eight points. That put the visitors up 21-19. Not even a Caldwell timeout could break the run, as the Lady Mustangs won the next four points to finish off the set and even the match.
The Lady Mustangs pulled ahead to take the third set 25-16.
The fourth set was tight much of the way, with Caldwell taking a 15-14 advantage in its bid to extend the match to a deciding fifth set.
But McCracken took the next four points to regain the lead, and put away the Lady Tigers 25-19.
McCracken had a balanced attack, with Jayda Harris recorded 14 kills while Jenna Henshaw had 13, Adele Mavigliano 12 and Drew Mullinax eight.
Piper Mullinax had 49 set assists for the Lady Mustangs.
Olivia Mitchell led Caldwell with 22 kills, a block and 11 digs. Abby Griggs recorded eight kills and three blocks while Kendyll Prowell tallied 34 set assists, three kills and seven digs, and Riley Thomas had 16 digs as the Lady Tigers’ four seniors played their final match.
Caldwell also got two kills and seven digs from Mary Tays, two kills from Katie Menser, a kill and a dig from Savannah Scott and fvie digs from Adi Sullenger.
Caldwell was appearing in its sixth KHSAA State Volleyball Tournament, but the Lady Tigers have never advanced past the first round.
