Lady Cats Earn Third Win With Victory Over Hart

Edmonson Wins In Two Sets: 25-16, 25-21

Edmonson County's Rylee Laster (8) passes the ball against Hart County.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
After a bit of a rocky start to the 2019 season, the Edmonson County Lady Cats are looking to get back on track. Several close matches have not gone the way EC has wanted, which had resulted in a 2-12 record going into last night's match against Hart County; however, last night's win is what head coach Bridget Simon says will hopefully direct the team back to where it wants to be.

"I am really hoping that last night’s game will help change the momentum and start helping the girls see that they can win and give them more confidence," said Coach Simon. 

The Lady Cats pounced early in set one, taking a 5-0 lead over the Lady Raiders. Hart County responded by shoring up their errors and tied the score at 9-9. Edmonson County's 7-1 run allowed them to regain the lead at 16-10, to which Hart answered with three straight, but that would be about all the offense the Lady Raiders would generate as the Lady Cats finished them off with a 9-3 run and taking the first set 25-16.

Senior Rachel Cowles sets the ball for another Lady Cat.

Emma Woodcock sends the ball over against Hart County.

Hart County regrouped and reduced their errors in the start of set two as they led for most of the first part. Edmonson County finally tied the score at 12 and took their first lead of the set at 13-12. From that point, there were five different lead changes and six different ties until Edmonson County called a timeout with a 21-20 lead.

They outscored the Lady Raiders 4-1 for the final points of the set as they went on to win 25-21, and the game 2-0.

"Right now we are working on coverage and moving our feet to make good, clean passes, said Simon. "At the beginning, they were having trouble with moving to the ball. Overall, the past couple of games I think they have gotten better at that. So right now we are just focusing on keeping positive attitudes and high spirits throughout the game even if we aren’t ahead in the game. I think that is huge for us— to stay positive and to just keep having confidence that we can win."

Freshmen Kaylee Lindsey, Alyssa Doyle, and Rylee Laster led the team with kills (Lindsey 13, Doyle 3, Laster 2) while juniors Abbie Slaughter and Emma Woodcock led with digs (Slaughter 6, Woodcock 5). Senior Rachel Cowles led in the assists column with 10 while Woodcock also added 6 assists.

Edmonson County now looks to get revenge on their 12th District rival Butler County on Thursday, who defeated the Lady Cats in Morgantown a couple weeks ago. The Lady Bears took three straight sets from EC in their first meet after the Lady Cats won the first set. The game is scheduled at home for a JV-Varsity match beginning at 5pm.