Caldwell County was on the verge of one of the biggest comebacks in school history.
Down two sets to none and seemingly reeling against Webster County in the 2nd Region volleyball tournament semifinals Wednesday night in Marion, the Lady Tigers not only battled back to draw even, but found themselves up 14-10 in the decisive first-to-15 fifth set.
However, Webster spoiled Caldwell’s rally, surviving four match points and taking eight of the final 10 points of the night to ultimately claim an 18-16 victory in the set and take the match 3-2.
The Lady Trojans (19-15) will take on Henderson County (29-9) in Thursday’s 6 p.m. championship match at Crittenden County’s Rocket Arena.
Henderson turned back Madisonville-North Hopkins in four sets in Wednesday’s other semifinal, 25-14, 25-20, 23-25, 25-8.
Meanwhile, Caldwell, which won the regional championship last season, finishes the season 20-19 after having to retool following massive losses to graduation from last year’s team.
Caldwell was 6-0 all-time against Webster entering Wednesday’s semifinal tilt. That included a five-set thriller earlier this season in Dixon in which the Lady Tigers prevailed 17-15 in the fifth set.
But Webster got the early drop on Caldwell in the regional tourney, taking the first set 25-19 then winning 25-15 to put the Lady Tigers in a deep hole.
However, Caldwell led most of the third set before taking a 25-19 decision to extend the match. The Lady Tigers never trailed in the fourth set before having to hang on late for a 25-23 victory to set up the fifth-set tiebreaker.
The teams were tied 9-9 in the final set before a 4-0 burst seemingly put Caldwell in charge at 13-9.
Webster trailed 14-10, but came up with one of its biggest comebacks to post the 18-16 win and earn a berth in the regional championship
Caldwell’s Savannah Scott had 16 kills while Mary Tays had 14 kills nd 13 digs in the contest.
Adison Sullenger had 48 set assists to go with nine digs.
Lily Hoard recorded six kills and four digs while Katie Menser had six kills, a block, two digs and two aces.
Kynady Thomas tallied four kills and three blocks.
Claire Knoth had 30 digs and a kill while Maggy Griggs had 15 digs and a kill. Kyndra Winters added 10 digs.
For Webster, Maggie Jones had 21 kills and a block while Mary Kate Rakestraw recorded 13 kills and four blocks.
Kylie Hardison had 40 assists to go with two kills.
Sydney Shoulders totaled five kills, seven digs and four aces while Lacey Pugh had four kills and eight digs.
Audrie Ellis had 18 digs and Allie Meisel had nine digs.
Webster has fallen to Henderson three times already this season, taking just one set out of 10 against the Lady Colonels.
