The University Heights Academy volleyball team was pushed to the limit by a resilient Crittenden County squad on Tuesday night, but the Lady Blazers pulled out a nerve-wracking 2-1 victory to earn the 2nd Region All-A title. In the early game, UHA cruised past Livingston Central 2-0 in the semifinal round. The Lady Blazers improve to 9-2 on the year.
UHA began with a 25-15 win in the opening set against Livingston Central, before dispatching the Lady Cardinals 25-6 in the second. The championship match wouldn’t be as straight forward, as Crittenden County jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. However, the Lady Blazers soon took control and went on to win 25-18.
UHA looked set to build on the momentum of the first-set win with a 6-0 start in the second, but the Lady Rockets stormed back to tie it at 18-18. Crittenden surged ahead at 23-20 to force a Lady Blazer timeout, before finishing off the set 25-21.
The third set was tightly contested with both teams taking a one-point lead and two ties before the Lady Blazers built an 8-4 advantage. Lady Rockets’ coach Cara Hunt called a timeout, finding the right buttons to push to spur her team on a 4-1 run to close to 9-8. With the game tied at 10, Crittenden took a 2-point lead to force a Lady Blazer timeout. Down 13-12, UHA finished the match on a 3-0 run to punch its ticket to Richmond for the All-A State Tournament.
The Lady Blazers will turn their attention back to regular season play on Thursday, hosting Hopkinsville in an 8th District showdown.
