WILLIAMSBURG — It’s been one heck of a season so far for David Halcomb’s Whitley County Lady Colonels, and they’re far from finished.
Whitley County has turned in one of its best season’s in program history, winning a school-record 34 games while only losing twice the entire season.
They also captured another 50th District championship (second in a row) while repeating as 13th Region champions.
The Lady Colonels will now switch their focus to Monday’s Sweet Sixteen road showdown with Wolfe County during first round action.
“This team is special in so many ways,” Halcomb said. “It’s really difficult to put into words. We are a very close group and I think people can see that by the way they play the game. The girls are fun-loving and just make a person’s day brighter by just being around them. This journey with them has been so much fun – it’s been a great time. “However, when it comes time to get to work and get serious, they know how to do that, too,” he added. “We’ve worked hard to have the success we’ve had recently. Academically, these girls are near the top of their class, and we’ve not had a single discipline issue with any of them. Our team chemistry is off the charts and that’s something that can be difficult to achieve. These girls have played together since they were kids and that means a lot to them.”
Halcomb said his players being focused and ready to put in hard work, is one of many traits that has helped the Lady Colonels make another run at a state championship this season.
“We talked at the end of last season about repeating as 13th Region Champions,” he said. “They set their sights on that, and nothing was going to stop them. They invested in their game by playing club ball and coming in early morning hours before school for open gym — just totally bought in to improving their skills.
“To the best of my knowledge, and many I’ve spoken with about it, Whitley County has never had a team repeat as a region champion and they were determined to be the first to do it,” Halcomb added. “Think about the accomplishments of this team — repeat 2A Section 7 Champions, undefeated in 13th Region play, longest winning streak, most wins in a single season, back-to-back 13th Region Players of the Year, finished the season No. 3 in the state in RPI, back-to-back 50th District & 13th Region Champions. Since our loss to Notre Dame in the November 3rd, 2022 Elite 8 match, we’ve lost two matches and that includes many matches we played over the summer.
“I told someone the other day that most of the time these girls don’t even need me,” he continued. “I’m just along for the ride. I thank God for giving me an opportunity to play a small part in their lives. They have been a blessing to me and I’m going to miss them so bad. They are a very, very special group.”
Even with the success, Halcomb said his players have never rested on their laurels.
“The girls have taken everything in stride and have a good demeanor about them,” he admitted. “That’s been one thing I’ve stressed to them all season — to stay humble & hungry for the next win. They play hard for one another, their families and community. We celebrated quite a bit but got back to work the day after the region championship.
“We’ve not practiced this season to just beat Corbin, North Laurel or any of our region opponents,” Halcomb added. “We’ve practiced with the mindset to being able to compete at the state level. We know that if we are fortunate enough to get past Wolfe County, the competition will get more challenging with each round. We are in it, so we’ve got a shot to make a good run in the state tournament.
“I think the keys to playing high level volleyball is basically the same in every match — it’s all about serving & passing,” he continued. “We just can’t give our opponents free points by having a bunch of serving errors or overpasses. We have to be able to consistently pass the ball to Kaytlynn (Collier) in the setter position. When that happens, we know Kaytlynn will get a good set out to our pin hitters — Marissa (Douglas), Kylee (Brown), Emily (Gaylor) and also to our middle hitters Jaelyn (Brackett) and Addison (Siler). I think this is what makes this team so good – we are so balanced offensively. Marissa has been the best hitter in the region the last two seasons and can really put the ball down with force — she’s had a phenomenal season. But we’ve also gotten great production this season from Jaelyn and Addison from the middle hitter position. Kylee and Emily are very smart and effective as well, increasing their number of kills this season. We just have to remain solid with serving & passing. If we do that we have a chance to be really successful.”
Halcomb said he and his team are excited
We are excited to go back to Wolfe County (25-11) and play for a chance to get to the Elite 8.
“I don’t agree with how the KHSAA is handling the sport of volleyball and it’s a shame they won’t go back to a Sweet 16 format like it used to be prior to Covid,” he said. “I think it’s doing an injustice to our volleyball student athletes across the state.
During the tourney conference call I had on Friday, one school was concerned about the number of tickets that could be sold because their gym can’t hold many fans,” Halcomb added. “This shouldn’t even be a question. A change needs to be made. We are ready to go though. Superintendent Siler, our school board and administration go above and beyond for us —dismissing school half a day on Monday and getting a charter bus for our team to travel in. We will also have a couple of pep buses making the trip.
“It should be a good trip for us,” Halcomb continued. “We are going to head out Monday morning, stop along the way for a short practice and then head on up to Wolfe County. We are excited and ready to go.”
Wolfe County enters Monday game with a 25-11 record. The Lady Wolves aren’t a stranger to Whitley County, the two teams met in first round action of last season’s first round play of the state tournament with the Lady Colonels winning, 3-1.
“We will need to play good team defense and that starts with defending the net,” Halcomb said. “Jaelyn and Addison both do a good job with this. Our back line defense is going to have to play quick. Our libero, Megan (Gibbs) has had a great season. She covers the court really well and we are at our best when she and our DS Allyson Stack are defending at a high level.
“Wolfe County has great outside hitters in Ginger Johnson and Naoma Noble,” he added. “We have to control them and not send them easy free balls, which will in turn allow them to have more opportunities to attack us. We do feel they have some weaknesses that we can exploit and hopefully we can do that. It’s a lot about mindset. We know it will be a small, hostile environment, but we will have a large group of fans traveling with us. We are going with the attitude to win.”
The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
