A deep roster full of strong servers helped propel the McCracken County Lady Mustangs to their season-opening win over the St. Mary Lady Vikings Tuesday night, 3-0.
The Lady Mustangs capped off their 2024 season with a 35-6 record and picked right back up where they left off to start their 2025 season. With a roster that features five seniors, the Lady Mustangs are poised to advance into another successful season.
One of those seniors is Taylor Dugan whose role is to start off serving for the Lady Mustangs and she did a good job at it to start the season.
Nine service aces against one error throughout the night would be a highlight of the night for Dugan.
“The way we have designed our rotation, Taylor should always be first to serve,” McCracken County head coach Chancie Coleman said. “She starts us off really strong and that keeps our three hitters up front the longest.”
As one of the five seniors this season, Coleman knows she can trust Dugan to not only be the leader out on the floor, but also to understand where the improvements need to be made, not only for herself, but also for her teammates.
“She’s very experienced and at this point in her game I can just look at her and she knows exactly what I’m going to say or what might need to be fixed.”
Taylor secured two of her nine aces within the first six points of the night, leading to a commanding night. McCracken got up to a 9-1 lead, setting the tone for the night. The Lady Mustangs would cap off the opening set 25-7, keeping that tone from the early points.
“Having the responsibility of starting service can really set the tone for the game,” Dugan said. “In that position, I just really want to get out to an aggressive start and I feel like we were able to do that tonight.”
Each of the three sets started off in very similar fashion, with Dugan dominating at service. The second set got off to a 9-0 start with the help of some aggressive attacking at the net from Emily Hatfield and Kambell Dunning.
St. Mary’s Sienna Rosa snagged an ace soon after to get the Lady Vikings on the board, but McCracken County would be too much for the hosts to handle.
Another set where McCracken held the Lady Vikings to just single digits was capped off by an ace from Madeline Pierce, a kill from Lilly Hamilton and the final kill from senior Reagan Hill for a 25-6 set score.
Freshman Nora Flint snagged the first point of the third set with a service ace, but McCracken quickly found their answers to claim the set. With a 25-14 final score, the Lady Vikings had their most successful offensive set of the night, but it would be too little, too late.
With their first win in the books, both Coach Coleman and Dugan say getting the first win out of the way is a step in the right direction.