Whitley County and North Laurel hooked up in what could be best described as a battle between two of the 13th Region’s best volleyball teams on Tuesday, and the match lived up to its billing.
The Lady Jaguars (5-3) were coming off one of their biggest wins in recent memory, ending Corbin’s 39-game win streak against regional teams but they came up short against the Lady Colonels, falling in five sets, 3-2.
“This was just a tremendous volleyball match,” Whitley County volleyball coach David Halcomb said. “North Laurel has a really good team. Coach Hendrix has turned that team around in a hurry. This was a huge win for our team — super proud of them.
“I was really concerned about the fact North Laurel had already played eight matches and it was our opening match of the season,” he added. “One of the things we have preached to our girls all summer is to stay positive through adversity and we made big strides in that area tonight. Several times we could have folded and went into a funk, but our morale stayed positive.”
Whitley County won the first set, 25-23, before falling in the second set, 25-12. The Lady Colonels won the third set, 25-17, before seeing North Laurel battle back and capture the fourth set, 25-21. Whitley County (1-0) won the fifth set, 21-19.
“I thought our serve receive and passing was outstanding,” Halcomb said. “On the flip side of that, we had 22 service errors, which is surprising to me. We are normally strong and consistent in that area. I’m confident we will clean that up though. We faced three match points, but mentally stayed in it and came through big time. Great way to start the season.”
