Lady Cats Continue To Fight Through Growing Pains With Loss To Trinity

Trinity Overcomes First Set Deficit To Take Final Regular Season District Game

Freshman Kaylee Lindsey goes for a kill against Trinity.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Despite the all-out effort from the Lady Cats last night in the final regular season District 12 match of the season, Whitesville-Trinity found a way to overcome an eleven-point deficit in the first set to win not only set one, but go on to sweep Edmonson County in the game.

It is the second consecutive season without a win over a district opponent for Lady Cat volleyball. The team is still working through the growing pains of a rebuilt system after the loss of many veteran players and standouts since the District 12 championship team in 2017. The team has experienced five different head coaches since 2014.

There are still plenty of bright spots shining on the 2019 Lady Cats. One: while the team will be losing 6 seniors this year, the Lady Cats still have plenty of underclassmen that have been part of the rebuild. Two juniors and two freshmen are currently part of the starting lineup, with one of those juniors, Emma Woodcock, who is now in her 5th season as a major contributor for the varsity team. Two: the team has closely competed with the other three District 12 Teams: Trinity, Butler, and Grayson County, despite not notching district wins. Their 0-6 record does not reflect the 5-set matches against Trinity and Butler County, the sets that went down to the wire, nor the injuries and other obstacles--some off the court--that the team has fought through all season long.

First year head coach Bridget Simon said despite the loss, she felt like last night's contest was one of the better games all season long when talking about team play, which is what any team has to have when heading into the postseason. 

"I want the team to keep up that momentum and team spirit," she said. "We had more than a few obstacles to deal with last night that we couldn't overcome and I think that made a great impact on the outcome of the game."

Senior Mackenzie Jones serves the ball against Trinity.

Junior Emma Woodcock returns the ball against Trinity.

During set one, the Lady Cats came out with an intensity and drive that set a clear tone to the start of the game. Trinity was forced to call their first timeout as Edmonson County pounced early for a 7-2 lead. The Lady Cats continued their dominance with another run that forced Trinity's second timeout at 14-4. They ran their lead up to 18-7 but the Lady Raiders refused to go away and began making some major adjustments. 

An 8-4 Trinity run forced Edmonson into a timeout with the Lady Cat lead holding at 19-15. Edmonson County stared down the game point with a 24-22 lead but allowed the Lady Raiders to score 3 straight to force extra points. Trinity finished the set on a 21-8 run to take set one 28-26.

From there, the momentum was shifted in favor of the Lady Raiders and Edmonson County struggled to gain leads. In set two, the Lady Cats played catch-up until they tied the score at 10. They forced Trinity into a timeout with a 14-11 lead, but the Lady Raiders scrapped back and tied the score at 15. After Trinity scored the next point, they wouldn't lose the lead again as they topped Edmonson County 25-17.

Set three was a close repeat of the previous, despite a good start from EC. After a Lady Cat 6-5 lead, Trinity climbed back on top at 7-6 and held their lead from that point on for the 25-16 set win, as well as a three-set sweep.

With 6 regular season games left, Coach Simon said the Lady Cats will continue their effort to improve.

"We're going to keep focusing on building on our strengths and learning from our weaknesses."

Edmonson County is now 6-15 on the season and is scheduled to play at Caverna on Monday at 5PM.