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Patrick County 'wakes up' after opening loss to top Martinsville and advance
Patrick County to face Tunstall for PD title
Patrick County's Kylene Culler (15) smacks the ball past Martinsville's Lauren McGarry (16) in Thursday's semifinal win at Bassett. The Lady Cougars won in four games to advance to the finals. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray)
After a shaky start Thursday night, Patrick County’s volleyball team pulled it together to down Martinsville in four games and advance to the final round of the Piedmont District Tournament.
“We came out a little slow. We struggled passing tonight, which we haven’t done in awhile, but our hitting came around, and we served pretty well,” said Patrick County coach Heidi Moore. “We looked good, especially the last three games, and we started looking better towards the end of the first game. I guess we started waking up.”
The Lady Cougars (15-6 overall, 5-3 Piedmont District) dropped the first game 17-25 before taking the last three for the win 25-20, 25-19 and 25-18.
“I felt like we had a lot of energy and a lot of spirit to start our match. Our team just wasn’t able to adapt to what Patrick County was doing, and our great serving game wasn’t on tonight, which was crucial,” said Martinsville coach Robin Humlan.
After falling in the first match, the Cougars struggled to string points together through the start of Game 2 until Kylene Culler stepped to the service line late in the game.
Culler and the Cougars took possession with a two-point deficit (16-18) and turned it around with an eight-point run before turning the ball over one point away from victory (24-19).
The Lady Bulldogs (12-8 overall, 4-3 PD) earned one more point before allowing a blocked ball to fall in their own territory for the loss.
“Their attacks were mostly off of our freeballs,” said Humlan. “We were not being aggressive enough from our side, and they can execute very well when they get the lofty balls that we were giving them.”
Culler recorded 13 kills and nine blocks.
“We’ve been struggling a lot lately, trying to finish things out and get going,” said Moore. “It helped once we got a little momentum and got someone to step up a little. It helped the team to come together.”
Once things got rolling for the Cougars, they were hard to stop.
Patrick County only gave up the lead once in Game 3 and quickly regained it before again putting it together late for the win.
Early in Game 4, the teams traded a one-point lead, but a three-point advantage (15-12) following Ginna Williams’ turn at the service line gave the Cougars enough cushion to build on late for the win.
“We had some hitters, and most of them were on tonight, so it helped out a lot to have more than just one outlet to go to,” said Moore.
Deleigh Barbour had 12 kills and eight blocks, Lizzy Leeper added 11 kills, and Casey Bradshaw had 36 assists.
“I thought we played really well,” said Bradshaw. “We play much better when we are talking and communicating. We had a few slumps but we came right back out of them, which is what we’ve been working on all season, so it’s getting a lot better.”
The No. 2 Cougars will face third-seeded Tunstall on Saturday to determine who will win the PD and, according to Bradshaw, it should be a good matchup.
“They’re a very good team, but so are we, so it’s going to be a great game,” said Bradshaw. “It usually always is, so we’re gonna have to keep communicating like we are and keep playing.”
According to Moore, the Cougars will need a few more hitters with hopes of confusing the Tunstall defense and the ability to come together as a team during the match to have the best chance of beating the undefeated Trojans on Saturday.
With only two PD teams earning regional tournament berths this year, Martinsville’s season has come to a close.
“Just dissapointed. (I) wasn’t ready to collect uniforms tonight, but best wishes to Tunstall and Patrick County,” said Humlan.
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