WINCHESTER — Whitley County’s historic run came to an end on Friday, losing to state power Assumption, 3-0, during quarterfinal action of the KHSAA Volleyball State Tournament.
The Lady Colonels suffered their first loss since September 23, snapping their 15-game win streak during the process.
Whitley County finishes the season with a 35-3 record. The 35 wins are the most in program history. The Lady Colonels also captured the Kentucky 2A, Section 7 championship, finished in the Final Four of the Kentucky 2A State Tournament, won the 50th District and 13th Region championships while advancing to the state tournament’s Elite Eight for the second year in a row.
“This is a tough loss for us,” Whitley County coach David Halcomb said. “We didn’t come up here to just play, we came to win and our girls believed they could. Most people probably didn’t give us much of a chance, but as we showed out there on that court we were right there. It hurts so much because we are such a close group — we have so much love and respect for each other.
“I think we came out and surprised Assumption by our level of play,” he added. “One of my goals that I told my staff this morning was that I wanted to make Assumption call a timeout early and we did that. We should have won the second set, but just lost focus for about three to four points and that was the difference. Overall, our girls played so very hard and never backed down — just played solid volleyball all afternoon.”
Whitley County finished the match with 20 kills, as Marissa Douglas led the way with seven. The Lady Colonels tallied 18 assists in the loss as Katlynn Collier led the team with 17.
Megan Gibbs was named to the All-State Tournament team.
Assumption totaled 46 kills in the match, and finished with 44 assists.
Charlotte Moriarty and Bailey Blair each had 14 kills apiece while Emilee Fuller had 42 assists, and five service aces.
Assumption won the first set 25-15 before seeing Whitley County build a 20-18 lead in the second set. Assumption rallied and scored seven straight points to pull off the 25-20 win. Assumption wrapped up the three-set victory with a 25-12 win in the third set.
“To play Assumption, the No. 1 team in the state and No. 11 in the country, and be right there with them tells anyone the work the girls have put in and the heart with which they play,” Halcomb said. “I’m so proud of them. It’s been a tremendous run the last two seasons with these girls. They are phenomenal in all they do. Our motto this season is to have ‘no regrets’ and we walked out of GRC this afternoon holding our heads high, with no regrets. In my opinion, this performance solidifies this team to be the best to ever come out of the 13th Region.”
