The Hopkinsville Lady Tigers are back in the 8th District volleyball championship game for the third year in a row. The Lady Tigers advanced to the title game with a hard fought four set win over Christian County Tuesday night at Hopkinsville High School.
The first set opened with the Lady Colonels hitting Hopkinsville with a solid punch. Christian County bolted out to a 9-2 lead behind a balanced an energetic team effort. Once the Lady Tigers got their footing from the initial attack, they began to work their way back into the set. With Christian County up 13-8, the Lady Tigers “served” up their move, scoring nine staight points. Five of those points came on service aces from Chandler Adams.
Once they got to the lead, the Lady Tigers were then able to pull out and win the set 25-16 to go up 1-0 in the match. In addition to Adams’ five aces, Hopkinsville also got five kills from Hope Pace.
The second set turned out to be a battle from beginning to end. Hopkinsville took the early 5-2 lead to open the set. Christian County battled back to cut the lead to 9-8, and the battle was on. Hopkinsville was leading 19-17 when Christian County scored five straight to go up 22-19. The Lady Colonels were then able to inch their way out to the 25-22 win in the set to even the match at 1-1.
Christian County again had a balanced effort in the set, led by the efforts of Macy Baker, Lanie Bivins, and Jaquavia Bailey. Hope Pace added six more kills in the set for Hopkinsville.
The third set turned out to be the best of the night for the Lady Tigers. After Christian County scored the first two points, Hopkinsville responded with eight in a row to take an 8-2 lead. From that point of the set, Christian County could get no closer than four points the rest of the way, as the Lady Tigers took the set 25-16 to take the 2-1 lead. Hopkinsville got big performances from Alyssa Bearns and Hope Pace, each finishing with four kills in the set.
Set #4 had momentum swings in both directions. Christian County took the early 5-2 lead, only to see Hopkinsville come back to take a 13-8 lead of their own. A four point run from the Lady Colonels made the score 13-12 and it was white knuckle time from there. Christian County looked to be ready to force a 5th set with two points leads late at 19-17, 21-19, 22-20, 23-21, and 24-22. Behind a strong finish by Hope Pace, Hopkinsville finished the set on a 5-1 run to take the set 27-25 and close out the match at 3-1.
Pace was huge down the stretch, coming up with 7 kills in the final set. Hoptown also had solid play from Shelby Isenhoff, Marley Hancock, Hailey Hallmark, and Alyssa Bearns to finish out the match. Pace finished the match with 25 kills and six blocks. Savannah Peck ended the night with 30 assists. Alyssa Bearns added 10 kills for the Lady Tigers.
With the win, Hopkinsville improves to 12-13 on the season, and advances to face UHA in the final for the third straight year. UHA won the matchup in the 2018 tournament, while Hoptown won the 2017 title. The championship game is set for Thursday night at 6:30pm at Hopkinsville High School.
Christian County finishes their season at 10-22.