The Fort Campbell Lady Falcons are headed back to the 8th District volleyball semifinals. The Lady Falcons won their opening round match of the tournament for the second consecutive year as they rolled past Hopkinsville in straight sets Monday night at University Heights Academy.
The Lady Falcons have now won their last four matches against the Lady Tigers and have won 12 consecutive sets in the series.
However, the night began with the Lady Tigers looking as if they were going to put an end to that set streak. Led by the play of Madysen Taggart and Brooke Stewart, Hopkinsville used a 9-0 run in the middle of the opening set to take a 15-11 lead over the Lady Falcons.
Emma Haynes and Baylee Backes got rolling and brought Fort Campbell back in the set and the Lady Falcons would end up taking a 25-20 win to go up one set to none. Haynes served an ace to close the set.
The Lady Falcons quickly took control of things in the second set. With a hot start from Haynes, Fort Campbell jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Haynes had three kills and two aces in the first six points of the set. The lead would grow to 16-4 and the Lady Tigers could get no closer than nine points for the rest of the set as Fort Campbell took a two sets to none lead in the match.
The third set went back and forth early with four lead changes and seven ties. Sparked by some big plays from Kayla Maslonka and Denise Charles, Fort Campbell got on a run and took a 21-13 lead.
Madysen Taggart led a Hopkinsville rally late in the set, with the Lady Tigers getting as close as two, but they could not find the way to complete the rally as Fort Campbell took a 25-22 win to finish out the match.
Freshman Baylee Backes led the Lady Falcons with 8 kills and an ace. Emma Haynes added six kills and five aces. Amanda Kalili-Liusa ended the night with five kills.
Hopkinsville’s Madysen Taggart had 5 kills and 2 aces. In her final game, Maliah Miller added 5 kills for the Lady Tigers. Alayna King chipped in with 5 assists
Hopkinsville finishes the season at 2-26.
Fort Campbell improves to 8-10 and now moves on to Tuesday night’s first semifinal match, where they will take on top-seeded Christian County. The Lady Colonels won both regular season matches in straight sets.
