Whether or not it takes a village to raise a child is still up for debate, but there’s no question it takes an assembly of synchronized moving parts to win a regional championship. The Logan County Lady Cougars, who will leave for Louisville Friday morning from downtown Russellville for the state volleyball tournament.
Although there were hiccups along the way, Coach Steven Lyne’s Fourth Region champs (33-7) are a well-oiled machine which will face Sixteenth Region champion Raceland (35-4)at 4 p.m. Central Standard Time.
This will be the Lady Cougars’ 27th tournament game of the season. Coach Jason Clark’s Lady Rams will play their 23rd tournament game, including six in the Class A regional and state events. They went 1-3 at state, including losing to Monroe County of Logan’s Fourth Region.
It’s important that not everyone on a championship team does things the same way. Sophomore Chanler Steenbergen is the unquestioned kills and attacks leader for the Lady Cougars. She takes no prisoners when she’s on the offensive, hitting the ball with brute force. She had 53 kills in three regional tournament matches, more than double second place Brianna Wooden, another senior who had 22. Steenbergen’s 189 attacks were more than triple any teammate’s. It’s a tribute to the defense of Bowling Green and South Warren than 136 of her attacks were not point-enders. Katelyn Jones is also forceful when she attacks.
Tying Jones with 19 kills was fellow senior Rachyl Miller. She’s the opposite from the other three. Instead of hitting the ball hard, she relies on placement to put the ball away from the other team’s players. She is the Wee Willie Keeler of Fourth Region volleyball. Keeler, who held the record for singles in a major league baseball season for over a century and batted over .300 in 16 different years, was asked how he was able to get so many hits. He famously said, “I hit ‘em where they ain’t,” referring to the defense. Miller hits the ball where the other team ‘ain’t.’ She was the only player on the team to turn over half her attacks into kills.
One reason Miller was able to get away with so many taps for winners was that she is the team’s setter. She’s the one who puts the ball where Steenbergen, Wooden, Jones and junior Kapreshia Powell can play hard ball. So when she looks one way and hits the ball another, it’s a surprise. She put away a dozen kills in the finals with that maneuver. Talk about dominance: Miller had 107 assists at region. Tied for second on the team were Jones and Steenbergen with one each!
Jones’ specialty is blocks. She has good leaping ability and remarkable timing. Those two assets allowed her to block 28 opponents’ shots. Wooden was second at 20.
The most balanced statistic is in digs. Senior Maddie Abbott led the way with 53 of those saves. Cates was right behind with 50 and Miller with 49.
Freshmen Amber Carroll and Catherine Miller aren’t power hitters. The coaches pull them out of the lineup whenever they are to rotate to the front line. But they are steady servers. Rachyl Miller served 68 points in the three tournament matches, 7 of them for aces. Catherine Miller went behind the line 56 times and Carroll 55. The younger Miller fired 5 aces and Carroll 4. In service receptions, Carroll’s 41 placed her second on the team behind senior Victoria Cates’ 88.
The team also had to battle back from injuries. Cates obviously had a hurt wrist which caused her to muff some service returns early in the BGH match. But she fought back to become a force late in the match and in the finals. Carroll was in so much pain late in the championship game that she couldn’t sit down. While the awards were being passed out, she was in tears. But when it was her turn to serve late in the match, she pulled herself together and played a huge role in the two-point victory.
When one of her teammates was having trouble returning serves and South was aiming them directly at her, senior Savannah Shelton came in to save the day and the match by successfully putting those returns into play.
When South Warren won the first two games of the championship match after Logan had led in both. Abbott and Wooden provided the emotional impetus to keep Logan in the game. Cates and Rachyl Miller refused to let them lose. Jones took over the net in the third and fourth games. Steenbergen was a force throughout the match.
Meanwhile Coach Lyne and assistant coaches Rob Imlay, James Imlay and Tim Hopkins stayed calm and upbeat. “If they see me down or panicking, how are they going to act?” Lyne asked rhetorically.
Sophomore Chelsea Hopkins was in the regular rotation in the first two matches, and freshman Jaclyn Batchelor played in the opening 3-0 win over Allen County-Scottsville.
Leaders in each statistical category for the tournament follow:
Kills: Chanler Steenbergen 52, Brianna Wooden 22, Katelynn Jones & Rachyl Miller 19 each, Kapreshia Powell 12, Maddie Abbott 10
Attacks: Steenbergen 189, Wooden 52, Powell 55, Abbott 51, Jones 41, R. Miler 32
Aces: R. Miller 7, Catherine Miller & Steenbergen 5 each, Amber Carroll 4, Abbott 3
Serves: R. Miller 68, C. Miller 56, Carroll 55, Cates 32, Abbott 22, Chelsea Hopkins 5, Savannah Shelton 4
Blocks: Jones 28, Wooden 20, Steenbergen 11, R. Miller 8, Powell 5, Shelton 3
Digs: Abbott 52, Cates 40, R. Miller 49, Steenbergen 35, Carroll 33, Powell 14, C. Miller 9, Shelton 7
Assists: R. Miller 107, Steenbergen & Jones 1 each
Services Received: Cates 88, Carroll 41, Abbott 33, Powell 23