Menu
Lady Bulldogs finish with win over North Central
DUGGER -- With the swan song of seniors Kaitlyn Lewis and Shellby Smith on their home court at the forefront of the evening, the Union Lady Bulldogs closed out the regular season with a 25-21, 21-25, 25-14, 25-23 win over Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference and Northeast School Corp. cousin North Central Thursday night.
The Lady Bulldogs honored Lewis and Smith prior to the varsity match, then went out and ended a 21-match losing streak.
"I'm so glad that we were able to end the season getting a win against North Central," UHS coach Danielle Gentry said. "I'm very proud of my girls tonight.
"They came out and they were ready to play."
The contest pitted two teams headed in the same direction, albeit not at the same place on the scale.
Both teams are rebuilding and both are young.
"We were really on the same playing field," Gentry said. "North Central lost a lot of seniors last year and we're rebuilding our program. So we played point-for-point in all four sets.
"I'm glad that we were finally able to believe in ourselves, believe in our teammates and take that win over them."
The first year coach also said her team picked up needed momentum heading into a sectional showdown with the Shakamak Lady Lakers next week.
"This is a great way to end our season and move forward into the sectionals," she said. "We take on Shakamak next Saturday and they're going to be a tough opponent.
"So we've got to get prepared for them and this was a nice way to end our season and carry us into the sectional."
Things didn't start as well as they ended for the Lady Bulldogs (2-21, 1-7) as they fell behind quickly in the opening set.
But -- just as North Central coach Jacob Cummings lamented prior to the start of the varsity contest -- after the LadyBirds jumped to what appeared to be a comfortable lead, Union came roaring back.
"We were ahead in a couple of games this year," he said. "Then we'd get one bad call or make a mistake and things would go sour quickly."
The Lady Bulldogs turned a 19-14 deficit into a win thanks to North Central errors, both mental and physical, and an ability to dig balls out of the net and ones appeared to be headed for the bleachers.
The momentum didn't carry over quit as quickly as the hosts would've liked as the LadyBirds managed to not give away the second set.
But in sets three and four the Lady Bulldogs were in control from start to finish and survived late rallies in both games.
"We had three really great games," Gentry said. "Game two not so great but we came back and we were able to correct ourselves."
Lewis finished her volleyball career on home court with a kill, three aces and two digs while Smith had a kill, two aces, an assist and eight digs.
"My two seniors a did a great job of filling in the roles we had them in tonight," Gentry said. "I'm glad we got to honor them with a win for them in their last game at home."
Thursday's contest marked the first win of the year for the junior varsity Lady Bulldogs.
They posted a 25-21, 15-25, 15-9 victory behind seven kills, four digs and two aces from freshman Shelby Parr.
Union and Shakamak will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 in the semifinals of the Class A Clay City Sectional.
North Central 21 25 14 23
Union 25 21 25 25
Varsity stats
Union
Shellby Smith -- 1 kill, 2 aces, 1 assist, 8 digs.
Shania Hale -- 2 assists, 3 digs.
Conner Kendall -- 5 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs.
Cali Hale -- 3 aces, 9 assists, 1 dig.
Korissa Jobe -- 15 digs.
Autumn Secrest -- 17 kills, 6 assists, 17 digs.
Kaitlyn Lewis -- 1 kill, 3 aces, 2 digs.
Paige Passen -- 5 kills, 1 ace.
Hallie Smith -- 5 kills, 1 block.
Kolbi Reynolds -- 1 kill, 1 assist, 2 digs.
Junior varsity
North Central 21 25 9
Union 25 15 15
Junior varsity stats
Union
April Cloncs -- 1 kill.
Paige Passen -- 3 kills, 4 aces, 4 digs.
Hannah Rennick -- 5 assists.
Brandy Martindale -- 5 assists, 2 kills, 2 aces.
Shelby Parr -- 7 kills, 4 digs, 2 aces.
Marissa Abrams -- 1 kill, 5 digs.
Ashtyn LaGrand -- 6 kills, 1 dig.
Haley Smith -- 5 digs.