David Halcomb’s Whitley County Lady Colonels captured their first-ever 50th District Tournament championship in program history while winning their first district title since capturing the 51st District crown in 2016 by defeating defending champion Corbin in four sets on Tuesday.
The Lady Colonels (21-14) entered the matchup with the Lady Redhounds (19-10) with a 1-2 mark against Corbin this season but evened the series behind solid play from the net and mistake-free volleyball.
“Tremendous effort tonight from our girls,” Halcomb said. “I’m so proud of them for first of all coming out of the gate quick with great focus and energy and then when we got down they rallied around one another to tough out the win. This is a special, special group. As a coach, it’s so gratifying when you can put a plan together and your kids execute it so well. We encouraged them to be relentless tonight and I thought they were. We didn’t fold in the low points and I saw them encouraging one another more tonight than at any other point in the season.
“They’ve worked so hard since the spring, many playing travel ball and putting extra work in — rewarding for us coaches, the players and their families,” he added. “I’m so happy for them to experience the thrill of winning a district championship.”
The loss snapped the Lady Redhounds’ six-year reign as 50th District champions. The last time they lost in the 50th District finals was back on Oct. 20, 2015 to South Laurel.
Halcomb’s squad had finished district runner-ups the past two seasons but got over the hump on Tuesday.
Whitley County won the first set, 25-21, before reeling off a 25-19 victory in the second set. Corbin managed to win the third set, 25-15, but the Lady Colonels wrapped up the victory with a 25-21 win.
Halcomb’s squad will look to add even more hardware to its trophy case (won the Kentucky 2A Section title against Corbin earlier this season) once the 13th Region Tournament begins.
