After surviving three match points less than 24 hours against North Laurel while eventually pulling out a five-set win, Whitley County survived another barnburner on Thursday.
The Lady Colonels spotted South Laurel a two-set lead before rallying to win the final three sets to improve to 2-0. The heartbreaking loss dropped the Lady Cardinals’ record to 1-2.
“This was another tough five-setter for us,” Whitley County coach David Halcomb said. “Credit South Laurel for coming into our gym and really taking it to us the first two sets.
“We had a great crowd and I think our girls felt a little pressure by that and coming off a big win Tuesday might have played a factor, too,” he added. “Our serving was once again a big problem for us the first couple sets. We just could never find a rhythm offensively because we kept making serving errors. Our coaching staff decided to go with a different lineup the third set and had some girls really step up, and came in and gave us a big lift. It turned out to be the spark we needed and we started serving better, thus playing better overall. “Once we got momentum, it was gonna be hard to slow us down,” he continued. “I’m proud of their resiliency and no quit attitude. It was a total team effort tonight.”
South Laurel took control of the match early, winning the first set, 25-19 before rolling to a 25-16 win in the second set.
That’s when Whitley County began to rally.
The Lady Colonels cruised to a 25-17 victory in the third set, and a 25-13 win in the fourth set before locking up the win with a 15-10 edge in the final set.
Whitley County will be back in action Saturday, participating in the Kentucky 2A, Section 2 Tournament at Bell County.
South Laurel will be back in action Monday on the road in a crosstown showdown matchup with North Laurel.
