 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lady Cards win 12th Region Volleyball Championship The Wayne County Lady Cardinal volleyball team made history last week with an impressive three game run in the 2006 12th Region Tournament, at South Laurel High School Gym. The Lady Cards opened the tournament with a win over Garrard County and followed that up with impressive wins over rivals Pulaski County and Russell County, to claim the program's first regional title. This is just the program's fifth year of existence. "What a week for our volleyball program and give all the credit to our girls and their tremendous effort. We wanted so bad to get over the semifinals hump and I really challenged our seniors and they responded in such a big way. We opened solid and to beat Pulaski County and then come back and beat a good Russell County for a fourth time, to claim the championship says so much about the character of this team," said Lady Cards first year head coach Steve Thompson. Wayne County met Garrard County last Tuesday night in the opening round of the tournament. The Lady Cards showed the same aggressive attitude that allowed them to open the 2006 season with a 25-16, 25-12 win at Garrard County on August 8. The squad would not allow over confidence to let the Lady Lions an upset in the first round, as Wayne County rolled to a 2-0 win. The Lady Cards put the game out of reach quickly with scores of 25-9 and 25-7, to advance to Thursday night's semifinal round. "I was so proud of our team's focused and aggressive attitude against Garrard County. It's all about moving on and we made sure of that with a solid effort," said Thompson. Up next for the squad was a Thursday night semifinal round match-up with nemesis Pulaski County. The Lady Maroons won two of three matches against Wayne County in the regular season and advanced into the game with a 25-8, 25-17 win over Casey County. "Pulaski County has a very good team and along with South Laurel are two of the premier programs in our region. We so much wanted to get past the semifinals. I think we've lost two or three times in the semifinals, so our game against Pulaski was huge for our program," said Thompson. The Lady Cards lost to Pulaski County 21-25, 21-25 in the Pulaski Invitational and 23-25, 25-20 and 19-25 in the Greenwood Invitational, but avenged those losses with a 25-15, 25-12 win at Cardinal Gym, on October 3 in the regular season. "We were both very familiar with each other, so it came down to the team that played the most aggressive with the fewest errors," said Thompson. Pulaski County made the most of their opportunities and claimed the opening set with a 25-18 score. Wayne County quickly recovered and used an aggressive attack to score a 25-19 win and force a decisive third game. "I was so proud of the way our girls settled down, battled back and played the way they are capable of playing," said Thompson. The Lady Cards had momentum on their side and wouldn't let it go, as the squad took control of the game and match with a 25-16 tally. "What can I say except I'm so proud of the way our team competed. We finally got over the hump and that happened with the tremendous commitment from our kids since day one. We talked a lot about accepting the challenge and making the most of our opportunities," said Thompson. The win advanced Wayne County into a championship game match up with district rival Russell Count, on Friday night. The Lady Cards bested the Lady Lakers in both regular season contests and won the 45th District title, 11 days earlier with a 25-14, 23-25 and 25-13 three set win. "It's always tough to beat a good team three times, but to win all four is extremely difficult. I was also concerned about how much we had left after such an emotional win over Pulaski County," said Thompson. Russell County rolled into the finals with two very impressive wins. The Lady Lakers opened the tournament on Monday and quickly popped Mercer County 25-17 and 25-9. The team followed that performance up with a 2-0 win over highly regarded Southwestern, on Thursday. Russell posted scores of 27-25 and 25-15 to advance into the championship game. "Russell County has a nice team and certainly looked very good in beating both Mercer County and Southwestern. I really challenged our seniors before the game to accept the challenge and just leave everything on the floor. Our focus and attitude had to be right to accomplish our ultimate goal. We didn't want to just be happy to make the finals," said Thompson. The Lady Cards refused to let their dream season end and looked more than ready to accept the challenge. Wayne won the first game 25-20 and followed up with a 25-16 score, to claim the 12th Region crown. "A lot of these girls had been around since the beginning and all their hard work finally paid off. Give all the credit to the girls, just a mature, remarkable group that wanted to do special things," said Thompson. At the conclusion of the tournament Sasha Chaplin, Atisha Gehring, Kellyn Munsey and Rachel Bristow all were named to the 12th Region All-Tournament team. Up next for the Lady Cards, now 33-8 on the season is a Friday date, with Christian Fellowship, in the opening round of the Sweet 16, at the Frankfort Convention Complex. Christian Fellowship owns a 26-6 record and won the 1st Region with wins over Lone Oak, Community Christian and Fulton City. "Other than their record and the fact they've won 17 of their last 18 games, we don't know a lot about Christian Fellowship. I do know we're very excited to be making the trip and win or lose we going to feel very good about going to the Sweet 16," said Thompson. Game time is set for 1 p.m. on Friday in Frankfort and the winner would advance to play the winner of Russell and Greenwood. "We're back in survival mode and would love the chance to play or the right to go to the Final Four. It's just an exciting time for our program. Hopefully everyone that can will make the trip to Frankfort. I know our kids appreciate all the support," said Thompson. Details on the Sweet 16 in a related story inside this edition of The Outlook. Add a comment |
|
|
@ 2005 The Wayne County Outlook For more information, see our online Privacy Policy. |