On a night when University Heights Academy celebrated its lone senior on the 2024 volleyball team, the Lady Blazers avenged an earlier season loss to Heritage Christian Academy with a five-set win on Monday night at Blazer Gym.
Oakley came out swinging from the start, with five kills in a first set won by UHA 25-20. She got help at the net from Megan Long who added five of her six kills in the opening set.
The match featured two of the bigger hitters in the region in Oakley and HCA’s Mya Goodwin, who had five of her 22 kills in the first set.
UHA led wire to wire with only a tie at 13-13 their lone speed bump.
Heritage Christian Academy took the second set 25-16 as they used a 7-1 run to distance themselves after a 4-4 tie.
Goodwin had five more kills in the set for HCA, who also got three kills from Grace Conley.
The Lady Warriors were playing without outside hitter Katie Cansler, who was ill. Hadlee Hayes moved into the hitter position and responded with 12 kills and an ace with Mackenzie McCarty occupying Hayes’ spot and setting up 37 points.
“Everybody stepped up and we had a whole different system today. I was really proud of what they did today running that,” HCA coach Grace Stewart said. “They’re flexible and they’re willing to go do any role that I put them in, in any situation, and do it proudly.”
The third set proved to be the closest of the match with five ties and four lead changes. HCA led 10-7 before the Lady Blazers answered with an 11-1 run, fueled by two Oakley kills and two aces by Katherine Wood.
Down 19-11, HCA battled back to within 21-19. UHA held a 23-21 advantage and Oakley closed out the set with a winner for a 25-22 win to grab a 2-1 lead.
There was little drama in the fourth set as HCA broke a 3-3 tie with a 13-2 run. Conley was strong at the net for the Lady Warriors with four of her nine kills coming in the set.
Goodwin closed out the set with a pair of kills for the 25-9 win to knot the match at two sets each.
“They were missing (Cansler), and I really felt that we could have taken better advantage of that. But, you know, they’re scrappy and our kids just haven’t really learned how to push in some of those moments and to stay together and to talk and Heritage definitely took advantage of that,” UHA coach Faye Hendricks said. “We are still learning and growing. We had some major lapses and I think it was a little frustrating.”
Oakley owned the fifth set with six kills. She helped the Lady Blazers get out to a 7-1 lead and closed out the match with a touch drop down the left side for the 15-9 set win.
“I am really, really proud about the way that we played that fifth set. It was much better than our fifth set that we had at Christian County,” Hendricks said, referring to a five-set loss to the Lady Colonels last week. “But we’re definitely getting to the point where we’re learning to push and we’re taking more and more teams into extra sets.”
Goodwin had 24 digs and five aces for the Lady Warriors with Hayes adding 17 digs and Allie Craft chipping in with 14.
The Lady Warriors saw a six-game winning streak end as they fell to 13-5. HCA took a four-set win over the Lady Blazers two weeks ago.
Heritage Christian will host Caldwell County on Tuesday and play at Webster County on Thursday in a pair of measuring stick matches to try and get a read on what is expected to be a wide-open region tournament.
UHA improved to 7-16 after entering the match 1-7 in its previous eight matches.
Gretchen Durham had 32 assists, four aces, and five digs while Oakley added 19 digs to her stat line. Wood chipped in with 16 digs.
UHA will travel to All A region champion Crittenden County on Tuesday and play at Fort Campbell on Thursday.
Seeding for the district tournament was decided with the first games in the cycle. Christian County will be the top seed with Heritage Christian to meet UHA in the 2-3 seed game in the district semifinals to be played on the Lady Blazers’ home floor.
Both coaches agree the district will be up for grabs.
“I feel like any of these teams playing on a good night can beat anybody so you have to make sure you come prepared in every game,” Stewart said.
Hendricks concurred adding the fans should get their money’s worth the week of October 21.
“It’s wide-open and it’s really just a matter of who really shows up to play. I think Heritage, Christian County, and us are all in the mix. It’s going to be fun to watch,” Hendricks said.
