The Trigg County Lady Wildcats could not sustain a quick start in its district tournament semifinal game with Livingston Central Tuesday and lost in straight sets 25-21, 25-14, 25-15.
Trigg jumped out to leads in both the first and third sets but watched the Lady Cardinals come back each time to claim the set.
The early momentum swung Trigg’s way thanks to a 10-4 start. Livingston helped some with six attack errors and three service errors in the first set. Livingston caught up to the Lady Wildcats to tie the set at 15, 16, 17, and 18.
Taking their first lead at 17-16, Livingston did not relinquish it in claiming the 25-21 win. After losing the lead, Trigg had a pair of attack errors and service errors that gave Livingston four crucial points.
“We were moving. We were covering each other. We were hitting like we were confident and they believed in themselves,” Trigg County coach Madison Rogers said of the quick start. “Then we made a simple mistake and saw that it was getting closer to that 25 (points) for the other team. We kind of do this thing where we play mental and we think we can’t get out of it just because they’re up one.”
As has been the case for most of the season, when Trigg County scored 20 or more points in a first set loss, they couldn’t rebound mentally in the second set.
Livingston took full advantage, racing out to an 11-1 lead. Trigg wouldn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the set.
Victoria Joiner had six of her game-high 12 kills in the second set for the Lady Cardinals and the early errors did not resurface. After three service errors and six attack errors in the first set, Livingston Central only had two service errors and five attack errors in the final two sets combined.
Trigg County rebounded somewhat, grabbing an early 8-4 lead in the third set. But Livingston grabbed control with a 15-3 run to seal the win.
Trigg’s inability to keep points alive by returning serves proved to be its undoing. The Lady Wildcats suffered through 20 attack errors which has been a season-long issue. However, their serving was better with 11 aces to just six service errors.
Grace White had four aces and Raven Ladd had three. Ashlynn Koch led the hitters with five kills, and Grace Carver had three blocks.
“We have done very well as far as communicating and moving and made some adjustments as far as where we’re going when hitters hit and blocking. Over the past few weeks, we changed a few things and they’ve done very well adjusting,” Rogers said.
Emersyn Ramage added two kills and three aces for Livingston with Piper Michonski serving up six aces and Katie Hawk adding four kills.
Livingston Central (10-10) moved into the championship match with its eighth straight win over the Lady Wildcats.
Trigg County’s season ends with a record of 2-16.
