It continues to look, at this early point in the volleyball season, that the University Heights Academy Lady Blazers are continuing to position themselves as the team to beat in the 8th District and in the 2nd Region. The Lady Blazers delivered another resounding message Tuesday night in an 8th District matchup at Christian County.
The Lady Blazers fought through some service issues in the first and third sets on their way to a sweep of the Lady Colonels. UHA rolled through the match 25-17, 25-6, and 25-23.
The opening set saw UHA take the lead early and never trail at any point in the set, although the Lady Blazers were not able to gain any breathing room until late in the set. Through the first half of the set, Christian County trailed by only one on eight occasions and pulled even at 9-9. Led by Chayse Gilliland, Claire Chewning, and Julia Thomas, UHA was able to pull away to the 25-17 win to go up one set to none. Thomas had four kills in the set, while Gilliland and Chewning added two each.
The biggest problem for the Lady Blazers in the opening set was that six Christian County points came on UHA service errors.
Christian County was able to hang around in the set with solid efforts from Skylar Kirby, Rylee Owens, and Shiloh Baker.
The second set was all Lady Blazers. Christian County took a brief 1-0 lead but saw UHA respond with the next five points. Then, with the score at 9-4, the Lady Blazers ripped off a devastating 11-point run to go up 20-4. Suzie Comperry got on a service run that was highlighted by six aces in a nine-point span. UHA would close out the set 25-6.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair. The Lady Blazers took a quick 4-1 lead only to see Christian County come back and go up 8-6. The lead went from team to team for a stretch, with the Lady Colonels making a move in the middle of the set to take a 17-13 lead and it appeared a fourth set might be in the making.
But, on this night, the Lady Blazers would not be denied as they battled back to even the score at 20-20. Big serves from Olivia Oakley and big plays at the net from Julia Thomas and Chayse Gilliland would push the Lady Blazers on through to the 25-23 win to complete the sweep. Camryn Armstrong had a big set to give the Lady Colonels a chance to extend the match.
UHA took the trio approach at the net. Julia Thomas led the way with 6 kills. Chayse Gilliland and Claire Chewning had 5 kills each. Suzie Comperry was a force on the serve finishing with 9 aces. Sarah Peebles was her steady self setting the table for her teammates with 16 assists.
Kaidence Atwell had a big night for the Lady Colonels finishing with four kills. Skylar Kirby had four kills and a service ace. Camryn Armstrong finished the night with three kills and two aces. Anaysia Bagwell added two kills to the effort. Christian County also got big efforts from Rylee Owens and Shiloh Baker.
UHA improves to 8-1 with the win. Christian County suffers its first loss of the season and falls to 2-1.
