Lady Knights go 1-1 in first week of play

The Marion County High School Lady Knights volleyball team defeated Thomas Nelson High School Tuesday of last week on the road, and lost to Nelson County Thursday night at the Roby Dome.

Jessica Veatch

Senior Logan Powell attempts a kill over a Nelson County player in the match Thursday night at the Roby Dome.

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Jessica Veatch

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Senior Katie McKinney serves the volleyball in the first set of the match against Nelson County Thursday night.

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This season, a match consists of the best of five sets.

Marion County vs. Nelson County

The Lady Knights hosted Nelson County Thursday, where they lost in three straight sets. In the first set, Marion County lost 25-23, despite having a 20-16 lead at one point, led by middle hitter Kyvin Goodin-Rogers' four kills.  However, two missed serves and bad passes would lead to the loss, as Nelson went on a 7-0 run.

In the second set, the Lady Knights lost 25-19, after having break downs in several areas. After being ahead 15-10, Marion County would have five hitting errors that would have them trailing 20-17. The defense also gave up seven kills that allowed Nelson County to control the set. The third set was much the same, with the Lady Knights losing 25-20. Despite the score of this set, serving, hitting, and defensive errors never really gave the Lady Knights a chance to compete for the win. The Lady Knights were able to make a run at the end of set three to make the score respectable.

Head Coach David Hibbard said he was disappointed with the way the team responded to adversity against Nelson County.

"This was a big early season match up and we failed to live up to our part of the hype," he said. "Right now, Nelson is playing like the best team in the region and they really put it to us. Every time Nelson did something, we did not respond with any confidence or smart volleyball. Especially disappointing is the fact that we held leads late in both of the first two sets and failed to finish. Now that we know what to work on, we will be ready for some of the other regional powers that we face in the next two weeks."

The freshman and junior varsity teams were also in action against Nelson County, with the freshman winning their match and the junior varsity losing. The freshman scores were 17-10, 6-17, and 17-12, while the JV scores were 13-21 and 17-21.

Marion County vs. Thomas Nelson High School

The Marion County Lady Knights volleyball team traveled to Thomas Nelson High School for their first match of the season Tuesday of last week. They were able to defeat Thomas Nelson, winning the first three sets.

Hibbard said he loved the way the team came out ready to play.

"A crushing first set can be demoralizing to an opponent and we delivered. But to T. Nelson's credit, they responded with fire and defense. It took every play we could muster to put them away in sets two and three," Hibbard said. "I was especially pleased with how we responded down the stretch of those two sets. We executed and came up with big plays when we needed them. A great start for our season."

In the first set, Marion County won 25-11 behind the offensive play of middle hitter Kyvin Goodin-Rogers with four kills and the defensive play of middle blocker Logan Powell with three blocks. Goodin-Rogers also added two aces as the Lady Knights cruised to an easy victory in the set. The second set was much closer, but Marion County pulled out a 25-22 win. Despite being down 20-16, the Lady Knights made a comeback to take the set, led by Sammi Jo Orberson's serving with three aces. Goodin-Rogers also had a timely block in the 9-2 end run by Marion County. Set three was much of the same, as the Lady Knights fell behind but made another comeback led by Logan Powell's three blocks. Marion County had a 9-0 run to end the set.

Both the freshman and junior varsity teams were in action against Thomas Nelson High School, and both teams lost their matches. The freshman scores were 14-17 and 4-17, while the junior varsity scores were 15-21 and 12-21.