Logan County volleyball may well have been the most successful sports program outside Warren County in the Fourth Region over the past decade. Occasionally, a basketball team will challenge Warren Central and Bowling Green, but not consistently. The 14th District doesn’t dominate baseball, but neither does any other team. Soccer, tennis and swimming are Bowling Green-Greenwood top heavy. Track and cross country are broken into size classifications
Coach Steven Lyne’s Lady Cougars, however, consider a berth in the regional finals a birthright. They’ve only missed out on being in the finals twice in the last seven years. They average over 25 wins per season.
The season 2013 has been more of the same. The team—which is also coached by Rob Imlay, James Imlay and Tim Hopkins—sports the region’s best record at 28-7, is 11-1 against regional opponents (and has avenged thst lone loss by beating BGH in their second meeting), and is not only 6-0 in the 13th District but has won all 18 games in the district. Those six match victories have run the Lady Panthers’ win streak in the district to 78 straight matches.
Yet all has not been perfect. Logan had not won a tournament going into last weekend. They went 4-1 in the Queens of the Court at Central Hardin, 4-2 in the Quad State Tournament at McCracken County High and 2-3 in the Jefferson County Invitational, so six of their seven losses this year have been in tournament action. Losses have been to Louisville Christian Academy twice, Ryle, Green County and Owensboro Apollo.
That trend reversed in a positive way last weekend when the Lady Cougars won the Toyota of Hopkinsville Western Kentucky Smackdown. They went 5-0 to capture the title in the 16-team field. The sweep ran their tournament record to 15-6 going into Thursday’s district opener against Todd Central (6-21) at Franklin-Simpson. Coach Debbie Elliott’s Russellville Lady Panthers (8-12 overall, 4-2 district) will be heavily favored against F-S (4-21) at 6:30, and the championship match will be played at approximately 8 p.m., all in the same night.
The Lady Cougars started the Smackdown by cruising to 2-0 wins over McLean County and University Heights Academy on Friday night. Then Saturday LCHS won three straight 2-1 matches over Hopkins County Central, Henderson County and Caldwell County.
In the five matches combined, sophomore Chanler Steenbergen had 57 kills on 149 attacks. Seniors Katelynn Jones and Brianna Wooden each had 22 kills and each attacked 43 times. Junior Kapreshia Powell added 17 kills on just 36 attacks, and senior Maddie Abbott chipped in 44 attacks.
Senior Rachyl Miller was the aces leader with 14 while Steenbergen added 12, freshman Amber Carroll 10, senior Victoria Cates 8 and Abbott 6. Jones was the blocks leader with 18 while Steenbergen added 11 and Wooden and Miller 10 each.
Cates was the digs leader with 46, one more than Abbott. Miller contributed 31, Steenbergen 30 and Carroll 23. Miller piled 106 assists with the remainder of the team totaling three. Cates received 65 serves, Abbott 47, Carroll 21 and Powell 13.
In the win over McLean County, the coaches gave sophomores Laura Hendricks and Molly Latham and freshmen Jaclyn Batchelor and Maranda Wright playing time. Logan was so dominant, winning 25-6 and 25-8, that they only had to return 9 serves.
The 25-13, 25-23 win over UHA took a little longer. Steenbergen piled up 16 kills on 27 attacks. Jones connected with 5 kills on 8 attacks. Carroll hit on 5 aces and Cates 2. Abbott led with 10 digs while Miller was credited with all 22 assists. Cates returned 13 serves and Abbott 10.
Hopkins Central put up a good fight early Saturday morning, winning the first game 28-26. Logan soared back, winning the last two games 8 & 9. Steenbergen had 8 kills, Miller 5, Powell 4, and Chelsey Hopkins and Jones 3 each. Steenbergen attacked 22 times and Abbott 12. Steenbergen had 4 aces, Cates 3, and Abbott and Carroll two each. Wooden was the blocks leader with 2. Miller picked up all the assists with 25. Cates returned 14 serves and Abbott 3.
In beating Henderson County 25-21, 16-25, 25-22, Steenbergen went on the attack 55 times, getting 15 kills in the process. Jones made 6 of her 16 attacks count while Wooden had 4 kills and Powell 3. Steenbergen and Miller each recorded 3 aces. Jones—the blocks specialist—had 9 in this match while Miller got 5 and Wooden and Steenbergen 3 each.
The Lady Cougars kept the ball off the floor in grand style, piling up 78 digs, led by Cates with 18, Abbott 16, Miller 15 and Carroll 9. Once again Miller had all 25 assists while Cates returned 18 serves and Abbott 16.
As was the case often, Caldwell County put up a fight early, winning the first game 25-21, but the Lady Cougars got stronger and stronger, winning 25-15, 25-11.
Steenbergen had 11 kills on 35 attacks with Powell getting 7 on 18, Jones 5 on 15, and Wooden an impressive 5 on 8 attacks. Miller had 6 aces and Cates 2. Wooden led with 6 blocks while Jones, Steenbergen and Miller each recorded 5. Cates had 16 digs, Miller 12, Steenbergen 11 and Abbott 10.
The big news was that three players besides Miller had an assist. Miller piled up 23, but Savannah Shelton, Cates and Steenbergen each had 1. Cates returned 16 serves with Abbott, Powell and Carroll returning 6 each.
Freshman Catherine Miller played steady volleyball throughout without piling up big totals.