For the 13th consecutive year, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs are First Region volleyball champions after defeating Graves County in the title match on Wednesday night. Both squads fought hard with some close and grueling sets, but the Lady Mustangs were the ones who came out victorious once again with set scores of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-19.
The nerves from both squads were high at the beginning of this game. Graves came out aggressive and actually picked up the first five points of the match. Ella Morton in the middle picked up some big time blocks for a pair of points during the hot start. From there McCracken settled in and the teams continued to battle it out.
The Lady Mustangs jumped ahead with a long run, but eventually Marykate Miller had a huge spike to knot the score at 14. In the later stages of the set, Lily Hamilton, who earned MVP of the First Region Tournament, strung together three aces as a part of McCracken’s run, and clinched the opening set 25-19.
“Nerves definitely played a factor,” head coach Chancie Coleman said about the match’s start. “The crowd was crazy tonight. The girls thrive under it, but they have to get used to it. It always takes us five to 10 points to really settle in and play our game.”
“I just think we need to calm ourselves down, and once we do, we play our own game. We know how to play our game, and we do really well as a team. We just have to compete with each other and have fun.”
The second set was all Lady Mustangs. They jumped out to an early lead, and even strung together a double digit run with Mollie Canter at the helm, who created difficult looks with her serves. Reagan Hill was great throughout this streak, picking up a few blocks and kills along the way. It seemed like Graves’ defense struggled with digs, unable to effectively handle McCracken’s power at the net. That led to the most lopsided set of the night, finishing 25-11.
With their season on the line, Graves ramped up their energy, which seems to help on the court. They jumped out to an early set lead as Chloe Wade served an ace at the set’s beginning. The squads continued to battle and even found the set locked at 13 a piece. That’s when McCracken took over. Hill was finding a few more spikes with some solid setting from Taylor Dugan. They ran away with it in the end, clinching the final set 25-18 and the First Region Title.
There’s no doubt McCracken has had a chokehold on the region since their inception in 2013. The 13 straight district and region titles as well and never losing a game to a region opponent speaks for itself. Every year new players rise and step up to the challenge of continuing this tradition of excellence within the program, and this group was no different.
“I think it’s really their dedication to the sport,” Coleman said about what makes this team successful. “I have a couple players that are multi-sport athletes, but other than that, they play all year long. I told them before the game started, ‘We didn’t wake up at 6 a.m. to work out every day this summer to not make it all the way to state. That’s the best part of the postseason. They know they work hard. They know they have this legacy to live up to, and winning in this atmosphere is a huge reward for them.”
Now the Lady Mustangs turn their focus towards the state tournament. There they will play the winner of the Fourth Region, which all signs point to Bowling Green. These squads matched up in the regular season all the way back in August, where the Purples handed them a 3-0 loss. Now battle-tested and improved since the beginning, McCracken is up for the challenge on Monday.
“I think we’re ready,” Coach Coleman said. “We knew early on in the season that we got Region Four, so I’ve played a lot of those teams already this season. We know it’s coming. We’re gearing our practices towards it. We’ve got three practices left between now and sub-state, and everything we’ve got is going towards Region Four right now.”
“We’re really excited,” Hamilton said about the matchup. “We most likely play Bowling Green on Monday and I think we’re all excited for that game. We’re going to have lots of fun. I think we prepared for them all season long. That’s our main goal is to get to the state championship. We just have to get through them, be ourselves, and play our game.”
The Lady Mustangs will be on the road to face that Fourth Region winner, with Monday’s game time TBA.
Following the game, 15 of the best players in the region were named to the All-Region team including McCracken County’s Lilly Hamilton, Reagan Hill, Penny Kirkham and Emily Hatfield; Graves County’s Marykate Miller, Ryleigh Belknap and Emma Joiner; Carlisle County’s Ella Draper; Marshall County’s Emma-Leigh Reynolds and Bella Redden; Hickman County’s Kylie Meshew and Macy Howell; Ballard Memorial’s Hala Ouderkirk; Calloway County’s Kayden Patrick; and Community Christian Academy’s Millie Midkiff.