It is quite likely that it is the best volleyball match of the season so far in the 2nd Region. And, it would not be surprising to see them meet again in the 2nd Region tournament. Heritage Christian Academy and Crittenden County played a match that would have been worthy of being the 2nd Region All A championship match Saturday morning, instead it was the first semifinal match of the day.
Crittenden County used a devastating 8-0 run to rally from a 12-5 deficit in the deciding set and then got four kills from Carly Porter down the stretch to take a 25-23 win in the third set and claim a 2-1 match win over the Lady Warriors in the All A regional semifinals.
In the All A Classic, matches are best two out of three sets, rather than the best three out of five that are played during the regular season.
The match was well-played by both teams with virtually no unforced errors and very few mistakes that were critical in deciding points. Rather, this match was one that left fans on both sides appreciative of how the players on both sides played this one out.
This one was a back-and-forth match from the very first point of the day. HCA took an early 6-2 lead in the opening set. The Lady Rockets, led by Hannah Mott, battled back to tie the match at 15-15. Crittenden County scored the next four points to take a 19-15 lead and the Lady Warriors would get no closer than two points the rest of the way as the Lady Rockets took the opening set 25-22.
Mott and Lacey Boone had three kills each for the Lady Rockets. Mya Goodwin, who dominated stretches of the match, finished with 7 kills in the opening set.
The second set opened much like the first. Heritage jumped out again to a quick 6-2 lead over the Lady Rockets. Crittenden County fought back to tie the set at 8-8 and 12-12. The Lady Rockets scored four straight to go up 16-12 and appeared to be on the verge of ending the Lady Warriors’ day. Enter Mya Goodwin again.
Goodwin had three aces and a kill as the Lady Warriors battled back to an 18-16 lead. Crittenden County responded with five straight to go up 21-18. And again, it appeared the Lady Warriors were in deep trouble. And, the water would get deeper.
The Lady Rockets moved out to a 24-21 lead, setting up three straight match points. A Hadlee Hayes kill made it 24-22. Three consecutive kills from Mya Goodwin suddenly put HCA in the lead at 25-24. The two teams traded points until the Lady Warriors scored two straight to take a 28-26 win and pull Heritage Christian even with Crittenden County at one set each.
Mya Goodwin was a force in the set, ending up with 9 kills and three aces.
With the rally to take the win, all of the momentum appeared to be on the HCA bench. Four kills from Goodwin and two from Hayes put the Lady Warriors up 7-2 in the deciding set. The lead would grow to 12-5 and then fickle ‘Uncle Mo’ decided to get up and change bench seats.
Each set of the day, the Lady Warriors had one stretch of time where Crittenden County would be able to go on a run and this time it would help decide the title. Eight points later, HCA trailed 13-12 and it was ‘game on’ for the rest of the set.
Back and forth they went for the next several minutes. With the set tied at 22-22, Carly Porter came up with three big kills out of four points as Crittenden County shattered the Lady Warriors’ hopes of their first All A regional title by taking the set 25-23 and the match two sets to one.
Crittenden County was able to close out the match despite another big set from Mya Goodwin, who added 8 more kills, giving her 24 for the match.
Carly Porter had five kills for the Lady Rockets, four of them coming when the match was on the line.
HCA drops to 7-4 with the loss. The Lady Warriors get back to work Tuesday night when they go on the road to Calhoun to take on McLean County.
