The University Heights Academy Lady Blazers locked up the top seed in the 8th District volleyball tournament Thursday night, but it did not come without a fight. The Lady Blazers stayed unbeaten in district play by picking up a hard-fought 3-1 win on the road at Christian County.
For a moment, it appeared as if the Christian County Lady Colonels had the Lady Blazers right where they wanted them Thursday night.
Behind a big start from Suzie Comperry, Claire Chewning, Sarah Peebles, and Julia Thomas, the Lady Blazers rolled to a 25-16 win in the opening set.
The Lady Colonels got things rolling in the second set behind big efforts from Hailey Sparks, NeVaeh Day, and Camryn Armstrong. The Lady Colonels jumped out to a 10-4 lead. UHA battled back to within one at 11-10, but the Lady Blazers could not get back to the lead in the set. Christian County would go on to take the set 25-19 to even the match at one set each.
The momentum from the set carried over into the third for the Lady Colonels. Christian County bolted out to a 7-1 lead and it was at that point that the Lady Colonels appeared to have the Lady Blazers on the ropes.
UHA was down 11-5 and then won the serve back from Christian County to cut the lead to 11-6. It was then that Sarah Peebles came up to serve for the Lady Blazers. UHA ripped off ten straight points to take a 16-11 lead in the set. Six of the points during the run came on aces from Peebles.
The Lady Colonels could not recover from the run in the set as UHA went on to take the set 25-18 and go up in the match two sets to one.
The fourth set began with the Lady Blazers jumping out to a 10-3 lead. Julia Thomas was a big factor at the net during the start of the fourth set. Just as it appeared that UHA was going to run away and hide, Christian County came fighting back and evened the set at 13-13.
From there, Christian County, led by Hailey Sparks and Skylar Kirby, and UHA, led by Julia Thomas and Claire Chewning, went back and forth, with the set tied at 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, and 20. Behind a pair of service aces from Evelyn Cotthoff, the Lady Blazer finally got just enough breathing room to take the set 25-21 and close out the match three sets to one.
Julia Thomas finished the match with 14 kills for the Lady Blazers. Olivia Oakley added 8. Claire Chewning finished with seven. A huge night for Sarah Peebles, who finished with 35 assists and 8 service aces.
Hailey Sparks had ten kills, 12 digs, one block, and four service aces to lead the Christian County effort. NeVaeh Day had five kills and five blocks. Skylar Kirby finished the night with five kills and five aces. Chantelle Haby added 20 assists for the Lady Colonels.
UHA heads to Paducah this weekend for the annual Quad State Tournament, while Christian County returns to the court October 5th in a district match with Hopkinsville.
