Lady Raiders fall in five sets to Lawrence County
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Coffee County volleyball’s three-match winning streak came to a close Monday evening.
Hosting Lawrence County for a district matchup, the Lady Raiders came up just short in a five-set battle at Joe Frank Patch Gymnasium.
“I’m proud of my girls, the way they played. We didn’t give up, we don’t ever give up. We went five and we’re still first in the district” Coffee County coach Jon Spears said. “(After Thursday night) the rest of them are on the road, we’ll just take it and finish out the season right.”
After a strong start to the match in which Coffee County took the first set 25-14, Lawrence County answered with a 25-15 win in the second set to tie things up.
A tight third set followed, with the two teams trading leads before the Lady Cats broke a 21-21 tie to win 25-21 and take a 2-1 match advantage.
Needing a win in the fourth set to stay alive, the Lady Raiders jumped out early and continued to maintain space between themselves and Lawrence County throughout. Coffee County ultimately won the set 25-18 to tie the match and set up a decisive fifth set.
The Lady Cats set the tone early in the tiebreaker, taking the first three points to build an early lead. The Lady Raiders were able to keep it close, but finished the set down by four in a 15-11 final to bring the match to an end.
“We’ve got fight in us. (Lawrence County is) a good team, we always have fits with them,” Spears said. “We’re gonna study some film, we’ll get them next time.”
Morgen Spears was Coffee County’s kills leader with 13 over the course of the match. Allysa Goon followed with nine, just ahead of Hayleigh Harris with eight. Carrington Saner added six kills. Danni Hillis, Taylor Brinkley, Cara Newlin, Isabelle Saner and Paisley Dyer each had one kill.
Brinkley was the team’s ace leader, finishing with four. Goon and Andon Selvog came away with two each. Hillis had one ace.
Hillis, Goon and Carrington Saner each had two blocks. Spears, Newlin and Cailey Sturgill all followed with one block each.
Brinkley led the team in assists with 23. Selvog followed with 14. Hillis and Jenslee Nogodula both had one assist each.
Nogodula led the way in digs with 14. Selvog was credited with six. Hillis, Goon and Brinkley each picked up five digs. Harris recorded two. Spears, Sturgill and Newlin each had one.
Coffee County (6-3) welcomes Shelbyville Central for its senior night on Thursday. Match time is slated for 6 p.m.
