Slow starts for University Heights Academy have been the norm recently. While the Lady Blazers have rebounded to win three straight matches after dropping the first set, Coach Faye Hendricks is pleased with how her team has fought back to win. She also doesn’t want it to become a habit.
UHA dropped their first set the Henderson County Tuesday before putting the foot to the floor to win the final three sets and beat the defending region champions for the second time this season. The final score was 13-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-21.
Henderson County fed off their pre-game Senior Night festivities and broke an early 3-3 tie with a 12-3 run. The Lady Blazers had service errors on three of their first six serves that contributed to the Lady Colonel run. UHA wouldn’t get any closer than seven points in the first set as Henderson took the 25-13 set win.
In the second set, it was Henderson County who struggled to place their serves between the lines. UHA fell behind 4-0 early and trailed until forging a 15-15 tie. With the set tied at 17, the Lady Blazers scored four of the next five points including a wild point that saw both teams make miraculous saves before UHA cashed in for the point.
Henderson was serving tied at 24 but their sixth service error of the set gave UHA the point and the serve where they finished it out for a 26-24 set win.
There was no such drama in the third set as the Lady Blazers used an 11-0 run behind the serving of Meghan Adams to take an 18-6 lead and finish with a 25-15 set win.
The fourth set was tied five times until a Lily Hendricks ace sparked a 5-0 run and gave UHA a 21-16 lead. Henderson County battled back to within 22-21, but the Lady Blazers finished with four straight points and the set win.
After struggling with their serves early, UHA finished with a serve success rate of 94-percent (44/47) over the final two sets.
Katie Beth Stevens and Meghan Adams each had three aces for UHA, while Hendricks added two aces.
Adams also had eight kills, while Evelyn Morales added six, and Clarissa Miller had five. Stevens chipped in with four.
Beth Peebles had 21 assists and 15 digs for the Lady Blazers, who had 67 digs in the match. Hendricks led UHA with 19, and Miller added 17.
UHA improves to 25-5 on the season and moves to within one win of the school record set in 2016. They will try and tie the mark Thursday when they host Paducah Tilghman at Blazer Gym.
Henderson County dropped to 19-11 with the loss – including a 10-3 mark in the region.