DC wins thriller in 5 for title

Jim Pickens, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·4 min read

Oct. 22—The Daviess County High School volleyball team made all the right moves down the stretch on Thursday night — on enemy turf, no less.

The Lady Panthers got big fifth-set performances from Lexi Owen, Emma Rogers and the finisher, Josie Newcom, to prevail 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 16-14 over host Owensboro Catholic in a riveting 9th District Tournament championship match before an energized packed house at the OCHS gymnasium.

Both teams will advance to next week's 3rd Region Tournament, also to be hosted by Catholic High.

"Our team continued to fight regardless of what was going on in the match, and that's what I'm most proud of," Daviess County coach Tyla Bailey said. "We dug ourselves some holes over the course of the match, but we were able to dig ourselves out of them.

"Lexi and Emma really set the tone early in the fifth set, and then Josie finished out strong and we were able to get it done — I'm really proud of our entire team."

After the Lady Aces won the fourth set to push the match to its limit, the Lady Panthers came out clicking on all cylinders to open the fifth set — getting service from Rogers and stupendous play at the net from Newcom to jump out to a quick 5-1 lead.

Unforced errors by DC, however, played a role in letting Catholic back in the set, and the Lady Aces put together a 5-0 run capped by a Hadley Latham kill to edge in front, 10-9.

It was tied at 12 when Owen delivered her third block/kill to give Daviess County a 14-12 advantage, but the Lady Aces got kills from Paige Miles and Olivia Castlen to pull even. Finally, Newcom, the 9th District Player of the Year, produced consecutive kills to wrap it up for the Lady Panthers.

"We were aggressive and we stayed positive in that fifth set, and we were just determined that we were not going to lose to them," Newcom said. "In the end, it was just a matter of keeping their shots off the floor.

"We're communicating better than we were earlier in the season and that also played a big role in this victory. We trust in each other and we believe in each other, and that can take a team a long way."

Powered by Newcom and left-hander Mary Grace Hill, DC was in command early on in the opening set, but Catholic roared back behind the strong net play of Cate Sights to take a 22-21 lead late. The Lady Panthers scored four of the next five points, however, and a Newcom kill wrapped it up.

DC opened up a 5-2 lead in the second set before the Lady Aces put together a 16-4 run to go in front, 18-9. The Lady Panthers clawed back to pull within 22-21 and 23-22, but Catholic scored the final two points to even the match.

The third set was nip-and-tuck most of the way. In the late going, the Lady Panthers built a 22-16 lead, but Catholic went on an 8-2 run to pull even at 24. Daviess County then rallied to score the final two points, getting a kill from Hill to end it.

Castlen was highly productive in the do-or-die fourth set for Catholic — setting the stage for DC's fifth-set heroics.

"They capitalized on the errors we made," OCHS coach Brian Hardison said. "We got caught on our heels a few times, and we also missed too many serves.

"I thought Hadley really stepped up and was a force for us, producing 13 kills — that was good to see.

"We'll work on what we need to improve on and we'll be ready for the regional tournament."

The Lady Panthers were led by Newcom (17 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces), Hill (15 kills, 2 blocks, 4 digs), Adylan Ayer (9 kills, 6 blocks, 3 digs), Owen (2 kills, 4 blocks, 16 assists, 18 digs), Sydney DeRossitt (5 kills 5 blocks, 18 digs), Kayla Clark (16 digs, three assists), Taylor Roberts (10 digs, 2 aces), Kayla Thomson (4 blocks, 3 digs), Sydney Mills (5 assists), and Rogers (2 aces).

The Lady Aces were paced by Sights (14 kills, 3 aces, 10 digs), Latham (13 kills, 2 blocks), Castlen (11 kills, 4 blocks, 3 digs), Emily Christian (19 digs), Paige Miles (19 assists, 5 digs, 3 kills), Kennedy Murphy (29 assists, 6 digs, 2 kills, 2 aces), Abby Baughman (2 kills, 2 digs), Abigail Williams (3 digs, 2 kills), and Blair Riney (7 digs).