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Volleycats rally to beat Russell 3-1
Comeback in third set sparks Ashland to win
KYLE HOBSTETTER
The Independent

ASHLAND — With the third set hanging in the balance, Ashland needed a comeback to get by Russell. They sure as heck got one.

Down 20-10 in the third set, Ashland found the push for a 12-2 rally which set up a third set win and a match win over the Red Devils Tuesday night at Ashland 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23).

Volleycats coach Jeffery Huff said the rally in the third set really gave his girls something extra to come out and finish in the fourth.

“Russell always comes out strong,” Huff said. “Up until that comeback we hadn’t played well for any signifcant amount of time all night. We were able to sustain 13-14 rallies consistently like we have played this season. It was a good pick up and a good comeback.”

The Volleycats (9-1) were led by floor captain junior setter Jordan Hensley, who had 17 points, four aces and four kills.

The Volleycats’ captain said that while getting off to a slow start hindered the team, in the end it was about her team wanting it more.

“We needed to go back to basics,” Hensley said. “If we want it we have to go out there and get it, they’re not going to just give it to us. We have to play with all we have.”

While the comeback in the third set looked to be the key in the game, Ashland had to come back in every set. In the first Ashland needed a timeout to stop a five-point swing. And in the second set Russell survived another comeback to get its only set win of the game.

For Huff the reason his team seemed to have to come back is not being on their game, especially on the service line.

“We did not execute well tonight and we served horribly,” he said. “I was very disappointed in our serving. We had more serving errors in the first two sets tonight than we’ve had in any match this season.”

But while Ashland had its problems, Russell experienced plenty of its own.

In the first three sets, Russell (3-1) let big leads get away from them, mainly due to mistakes according to Red Devils coach Darrell Adkins.

Adkins said that if you give a team like Ashland a chance to win, it will make you pay in the end.

“You can’t give a good team free shots,” he said. “We just had those little spells and our ballhandling was not what it needed to be. We just went through spells in each game and gave up five in a row and you can’t do that against a team like Ashland.”

Another reason that Ashland had a hard time handling the Red Devils was senior Lindsey Wolfe. She had 17 points for Russell along with five kills and was prominent at the net the entire game.

Adkins had high praise for his senior.

“Lindsey Wolfe is the best hitter in the region,” Adkins said. “She is the one girl I’ve got that can take control of the game if we can get balls to her to hit. We didn’t give her enough swings.

Huff also had a high opinon of Wolfe, saying that letting a player that good get hot could be dangerous for opposing teams.

“I thought Lindsey Wolfe played well tonight,” Huff said. “She hit the biggest ball I’ve ever seen her hit. She hit it out, but she put some fire under it.”  

But in the end Ashland was too good for the Red Devils to overcome. Junior Emily Preece stepped up with 13 points.

Ashland hosts Greenup County on Thursday. Russell plays at home Thursday against Raceland.

KYLE HOBSTETTER can be reached at [email]khobstetter@dailyindependent.com[/email] or (606) 326-2658.