Two themes emerged from Wednesday’s volleyball region final match between Henderson County and University Heights Academy. For one, Henderson is not ready yet to relinquish its position atop the region hill. The Lady Colonels have six of the last seven region titles.
And second, UHA’s penchant for battling back throughout the match with a squad of underclassmen may just position themselves as one of the region favorites in 2023.
Henderson County was able to hold off the Lady Blazers in four sets 25-18, 25-22, 27-29, 25-19 to advance to Thursday’s championship match. The Lady Colonels will play Madisonville, who beat Crittenden County in straight sets in the other semifinal.
Each of the four sets had a similar theme — Henderson jumping out to a big lead and UHA battling back to make things interesting.
Henderson jumped out to leads of 14-3, 14-5, 9-4, and 13-6 in each of the four sets. In the first set, Henderson’s strong play at the net saw them extend their lead to 19-6. UHA found its footing and responded with an 11-3 run. Julia Thomas had four kills and a block during the stretch that got them to within 22-17. However, Henderson closed out the set with a pair of kills from Cameron Chandler to take the 25-18 win.
Facing a second set deficit of 18-9, UHA mounted another run behind three aces from Sarah Peebles to get to within 23-21. But a couple of big finishes by Keianna Alexander finished off the set. The junior hitter finished with 19 kills to lead the Lady Colonels.
The third set featured 10 ties and seven lead changes and saw the Lady Blazers stave off match points three times. Down 27-26, UHA had several key blocks at the net with Thomas finishing off the point to tie the set at 27. A pair of Henderson attack errors closed out the set for the UHA win.
In the fourth set, Henderson got out to a 13-6 lead and extended it to 21-12 as Alexander finished off a 7-2 run with a kill. UHA answered with a 5-0 run to get to within 21-17. Henderson was able to regroup and find their hitters, especially Alexander who had three kills to finish out the win.
In addition to Alexander’s big night, Hadley Wolfe had 14 kills and three blocks and Chandler added nine kills.
UHA got 11 kills and five blocks from Thomas. Peebles assisted on 20 points and had three aces. Claire Chewning and Olivia Oakley each had five kills and an ace with Oakley adding nine digs.
Henderson County finished with 15 attack errors in the match, but they were offset by 12 serving errors by the Lady Blazers.
Henderson County (28-10) moves into Thursday’s championship match, looking for its 10th region volleyball title.
University Heights equaled a school record with its 26th win in its opening-round win over Caldwell County. Only one senior departs this year’s 26-13 team that will be mentioned among the region contenders for 2023.
