Caldwell County shook off some late-season struggles to sweep past Hopkins County Central in the 7th District volleyball tournament on Monday.
The Lady Tigers beat the Lady Storm for the 22nd straight time, picking up a 25-21, 25-21, 25-16 triumph.
Caldwell is now 46-1 all-time against Hopkins Central.
The Lady Tigers had beaten the Lady Storm twice during the regular season, but the last meeting was a five-setter in Mortons Gap.
The first two sets in the district semifinal were both tied late before Caldwell won. The Lady Tigers then took control of the third set early and held on to finish off the match.
Brylee Butts had five kills and two blocks for Caldwell while Benashka Thomas had five kills and one block.
Lily Hoard tallied four kills, 13 digs and two aces. Ellie Ramey recorded four kills, four digs and two aces.
Katie Menser added three kills, five digs and an ace.
Kyndra Winters had 24 assists to go with two kills and seven digs. Claire Knoth finished with 20 digs and a kill while Rylee Thompson had two kills and five digs.
Caldwell had been 1-8 in its last nine matches before earning the district tournament victory.
The Lady Tigers (13-17) move on to face top-seeded Madisonville-North Hopkins (25-10) in Tuesday’s 6 p.m. championship contest in Princeton.
The Lady Maroons swept the two regular-season contests from Caldwell and have taken their last four meetings with the Lady Tigers. However, Caldwell had won 35 in a row in the series before that and leads all-time 37-9.
The Lady Tigers have also earned a berth in the 2nd Region tournament, which will be played next week at Henderson County.
