Photo by TRAVIS DAVID | North Knox players celebrate after Malli Lyons (1) serves up an ace against North Central.

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BY TRAVIS DAVID

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NORTH KNOX 3, North Central 0: The Warriors bounced back from a road loss at Wood Memorial on Monday with a sweep over the Ladybirds in non-conference action Tuesday evening.

After dropping the opening set, North Central looked poised to even the match in the second, but North Knox senior Malli Lyons served up eight straight points from the service line to swing momentum back to the Warriors.

“Malli really came through for us tonight with her serving,” Warriors’ coach Jessica Snyder said of her senior. 

Lyons had three of her four aces for the match, during the pivotal stretch in the second set.

On the attack, North Knox had four players finish with four or more kills led by a match-high of seven from Javen Miller.

Keely McMillin added six, while Alex McKinley (5) and Delani Pryor (4) combined to put away nine shots.

McKinley finished with a double-double as the senior handed out a team-best 13 assists in addition to 15 digs.

Miller finished with a team-best 26 digs while Lyons prevented 23 shots from hitting the court.

For the Ladybirds, Hayden Crooks matched Millers’ match-high total of seven kills in the loss. The sophomore also added nine digs.

Jalyn Davidson put away five shots at the net while Maycie Dreiman (3) and Shelby Seay (2) combined for five kills. 

Sam Secrest finished with a double-double as the senior handed out 13 assists to go along with 15 digs. 

Seay also finished in double digits in digs with 10.

Despite having not won a match since a come-from-behind win in the season opener, first-year Ladybirds coach Anna Orsburn mentioned she has seen growth from her inexperienced team.

“Losing is frustrating and we have a lot to work on,” Orsburn said. “But they also have a lot to be proud of … we continue to make progress. We have so many girls in different positions and they are doing a good job of stepping up in those roles. We just need to be able to play  with high energy throughout the entire match and improve our communication.”

South Knox 3, Shakamak 0: Momentum from a successful weekend came to a halt for the Lady Lakers Monday night against the visiting Spartans. Shakamak had opportunities in all three sets but came up on the wrong side of a 27-25, 25-20, 25-21 decision Monday night.

The loss dropped the Lakers to 9-4 on the season.

“We just could not pull through to finish any set in our favor,” Lakers’ coach Emeral Goff stated. “The first set was neck and neck throughout. The second set up gave up a 15-1 lead and in the third set we started out slow and had to try to play catch up the whole time.”

Brylee Faulk and Jordyn Boram led the offensive attack with a combined 22 put aways, led by Faulk’s 14. 

Faulk finished with a double-double as the sophomore added a team-best 24 digs in the loss.

Peyton Gambill (23), Ava McCrary (9) and Jama Ewers (9)  combined to prevent 41 shots from hitting the court.

McCrary (17) and Ewers (11) combined for 28 assists while Isla Kaufman and Ayanna Clark added four kills apiece. 

The Lakers quickly erased Monday’s setback with a bounce back against Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference rival North Daviess on Tuesday. The Lakers remained undefeated in league play with a 16-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 win over the visiting Cougars.

Goff admitted she was a little concerned about her team with dropping the opening set after getting swept on Monday.

“It had me a little nervous,” the coach said. “We fell behind early but once we started to understand where to go on defense and get our block set up correctly, we finally started looking like a team that wanted to win.”

With the win, Shakamak improved to 10-4 overall and a perfect 5-0 against SWIAC opponents.

For the first time this season, the Lakers had a trio of players reach double digit in kills.

Faulk once again led the attack with a match-high 14 kills, while Bralyn Calvert put away a career-high 11 shots and Clark was successful on 10 swings.

Madelyn Kennett (5), Boram (4) and Kaufman (3) combined for 12 kills in the win.

Ewers passed out 26 assists in the win while McCrary finished with 12 helpers as the sophomore continued to fill in for senior Jaedyn Boram (injury).

“Jama and Ava had a great night betting the ball to their hitters and they were all on fire tonight,” Goff said of her offense.

Gambill (23), Kennett (16), Faulk (16) and Ewers (11) all finished in double digits for digs.

The Lakers also had a big night at the net on the defensive side with a combined block assists, led by five from Calvert and four apiece by Boram and Clark.

Shakamak’s busy week continued Thursday, hosting South Vermillion.

SULLIVAN 3, Clay City 0: The Lady Arrows opened the week with a sweep over the visiting Eels. The hosts started out slow in each of the first two sets before running away in the third set for a 25-18, 25-19, 25-11 win.

“To be honest, Clay City played a lot better than we had expected,” first-year Sullivan coach Cassidy Clothier said of the Eels. “They did a lot of really good things tonight and once we started to catch on we finally found our groove, especially there in the third set.”

Jacie Wilson put away a match-high 14 shots in the win, while Destiny Gaines (6), Maddi Reed (6) Isabelle Harris (5) and Rachel Eslinger (5) combined for 22 kills.

“I thought our other hitters (besides Jacie) stepped up tonight,” Clothier said. “We told them where the block would be and they did a nice job of listening to all of the coaches on how to get around the block. They did a nice job of placing the ball and all of them had a great night.”

Eslinger finished with a double-double as the sophomore handed out 28 assists in addition to 13 digs.

Izzie Jenkins added 12 digs and three aces in the win, while Avari Kelley and Kensley Wiltermood both finished with nine digs.

The Arrows could not sustain momentum from back-to-back wins, falling on the road against conference rival Edgewood the following night.

Sullivan fell to 1-4 in Western Indiana Athletic Conference play with a close 25-19, 25-22, 25-21 setback.

The loss was not from a lack of effort, especially from Wilson. The powerful Lady Arrow middle, put away a match-high 24 shots in the loss.

No other Sullivan player finished with more than four kills by Gaines. 

Wiltermood (16) and Eslinger (14) combined for 30 digs while Kelley (12), Jenkins (12) and Jaylen McCammon (11) combined for 35 digs.
Eslinger also handed out 34 assists.

Sullivan (9-6) played host to Vincennes Rivet on Thursday for a varsity only contest.

Clay City 3, Dugger Union 0: The host Eels sent the Bulldogs to their 10th straight loss Tuesday night, 25-12, 25-13, 25-14.

Jalee Brumbarger and Hillary Flores combined for seven kills in the loss, led by Brumbarger’s four.

Flores led the visitors with a trio of aces from the service line while Arianna Frazee added a pair.

Jordyn Smith (13), Flores (8) and Kylie Gerig (7) combined to prevent 28 shots from hitting the court. Gerig added a team-high five assists.

On Monday night, the Bulldogs fell to Riverton Parke 25-9, 25-17, 25-12.

Izzy Cole led the attack with four kills while Flores added three.

Smith and Flores combined for 28 digs, led by Smith’s 18 and Gerig handed out five assists in the loss.

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