LHS Lady Hornets in first at half
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

The Lady Hornets remained undefeated in district play after earning a 5-game win over Pettus Saturday in a tough home match.

Louise played hard to get a win in the first game in extra points. The Lady Hornets fought off Pettus for a 26-24 win.

Pettus came back with a 25-17 win in game two and tied up the match at 1-1. Another extra point game went to Louise. The Lady Hornets took the third game 27-25 to take a lead in the match.

Pettus came back to take the fourth game 26-24 and force a fifth and final game to determine the winner.

Tied up at 2-2, the Lady Hornets came away with a 15-5 win to claim the match 3-2.

"Pettus came out strong and had one good hitter," said Bryan Branch, head coach of the Lady Hornets. "However, they only attacked from the middle, so we set our defense early and were able to dig up a lot of balls that they hit."

Louise's defense anchored the Lady Hornets' win. While the offense worked well, it was the great effort Louise gave defensively that kept the Lady Hornets in the match and ultimately delivered victory.

"Gabby Foster saved us in game three with a couple of great hustle plays," he said. "Kelsi Kutac and Lauren Gresham did a great job of playing defense, digging up hits and passing in serve receive. Kierra Thornton was all over the court keeping the ball alive for us. Kirsten Machicek continues to do a great job setting and had 53 assists in the match."

The Lady Hornets moved to 5-0 after the win and completed a sweep of their district opponents in the first half of play.

With the second half of district coming up, Branch said he knows his team will have to become more intense in order to achieve their main goal - a district championship.

"We are going to have to play our best the rest of the way because no one is going to just give us the title," Branch said. "They are going to play their best against us and we know that."

The Lady Hornets were certainly playing at their best Saturday and the stats earned in the match prove it.

Amber Bain and Sarah Williamson dominated Pettus at the net. Bain led the Lady Hornets with 35 kills while Williamson made 21. Katie Brown added 3 kills on the night while Kirsten Machicek made 1 kill.

Machicek's strength is assisting Louise's offensive attack. As setter, she finished the match with 53 assists while Lauren Gresham also made 1 assist.

Williamson led all Louise servers with 3 aces while Bain made 2 and Brown served 1 ace.

Brown led the defense with 10 blocks, Bain made 8 and Williamson made 2 blocks.

The Lady Hornets were diving on the floor to dig up Pettus' hits frequently. Kierra Thornton led Louise with 16 digs while Williamson made 13, Gresham made 10, Kelsi Kutac made 9, Gabby Foster made 5, Machicek and Bain both made 3 and Brown had 2 digs.

Louise traveled to Nordheim Tuesday and will return home Friday to host Woodsboro for homecoming.

With only four more matches left in the regular season, the Lady Hornets have their sights set firmly on the playoffs. The next couple of weeks will determine their fate.

28-A VOLLEYBALL DISTRICT STANDINGS