The start of the new week means the start of district volleyball tournaments around the west Kentucky area. Community Christian Academy hosted the tournament in the Second District, with McCracken County and St. Mary kicking off the night’s action. The Lady Mustangs continued their dominance in the First Region with another win here, defeating St. Mary 3-0.
“I think we played well,” head coach Chancie Coleman said following the win. “We’ve been working on things in practice that we’re trying to execute. We’re playing with a little bit of injury tonight, so it wasn’t as smooth as we want it to be, but I think the girls stepped up and did what they had to to advance to the next round.”
McCracken never allowed the Lady Vikings to reach double figures on the scoreboard in any set, the most allowed being seven points in the first. According to coach Coleman, it was truly power from the middle and just overall execution that led to the strong win tonight.
“Our middles, Reagan Hill and Emily Hatfield, carried us all season,” Coleman said. “I’ve never had two middle that are just as powerful at the net as they are. My team trusts them that when they go up, the ball is going to go down. Those two always stand out to me.”
Both players wearing number 13 coincidentally had very strong first sets. Junior Hailey O’Farrell for St. Mary and senior Reagan Hill for McCracken both came away with some strong kills in the early going. The two players impactful roles for their respective teams, and were truly a focus of each other’s offenses.
The Lady Mustangs started the second set off with a bang, getting out to an 11-3 lead. The points they were getting were not easy, as St. Mary’s Paige Topping had a few nice digs throughout the set. Unfortunately for the Lady Vikings, Taylor Dugan was on her game serving for the Lady Mustangs, and had one of her many runs throughout the night to cap off the second set, propelling the Lady Mustangs to the 25-4 win.
“Taylor Dugan with her serving runs was incredible. She’s battling an injury right now, so we gave her some breaks in there, but she always serves well and puts the ball where it needs to be.”
Similar themes continued in the third set, with McCracken going on yet another double digit run, this time at the helm of senior Emily Hatfield, who picked up a few aces during her time spent as server. The Lady Mustangs ran with their momentum all the way until the end, capturing the third set 25-5 and completing the 3-0 sweep in the district tournament.
With a spot in the region tournament already cemented, the Lady Mustangs turn their focus towards the Second District championship, a title they have held every year since the school’s inception in 2013. There they will face the CCA Lady Warriors, who sweep Tilghman 3-0 in their semifinal meeting. In the championship Coach Coleman wants to see the best version of the Lady Mustangs, and that starts with the tempo of how they play.
“We’ve been trying to work on speed, so at practice tomorrow we’ll speed up our game so that when we come here tomorrow night we’ll hopefully move a little faster than we did today.”
The championship matchup between McCracken County and CCA will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Community Christian Academy in Paducah.