NCC volleyball wins 15th straight over Highlands

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

NEWPORT – It had been a while since the hosts lost a game to their rivals, let alone a match.

That changed in the first game when the Highlands Ladybirds won 25-17 to take their first game over the Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds since the 2008 District 35 Tournament. But the Lady Breds came back and flexed their old muscles winning the next three games, 25-8, 25-19, 25-15 to win their 15th straight over their rivals Tuesday. Highlands last beat NewCath in 2005.

The Lady Breds moved to 8-13 with their third straight win and the Ladybirds dropped to 8-12 with their fourth straight loss. NewCath head coach Vicki Fleissner, a 1985 Highlands graduate, moved to 8-0 against her alma mater.

“We were shaky in that first game,” Fleissner said. “We weren’t generating anything on offense. We took charge from there. It was a great, balanced attack.”

Both teams used a 5-1 attack. NewCath did better than Highlands in many aspects in the last three games. Setter Alyssa Maier settled down and recorded 26 of her team’s 31 assists and got seven hitters involved.

“I think we shut down more than anything,” said Whitney Mulroney, Highlands head coach. “I think they got so excited and overwhelmed that they won the first game that the emotions confided in them and they didn’t know what to do.”

NewCath added 31 kills, nine blocks and 12 aces. Nikki Kiernan took over at the net for NewCath during that run and libero Maria Froendhoff made a number of digs. Kiernan finished with 12 kills and seven blocks. Molly Mertle and Whitney Fields added seven and six kills respectively with Froendhoff and Fields tallying four aces a piece.

“They key (to good setting) is knowing your hitters in what they like and where to set the ball,” Maier said. “We have been clicking more at practice. That’s helped us push forward.”

Highlands had 20 kills, 17 assists, nine blocks and six aces. Jessica Ginter and Kaitlin Hall once again had good games for Highlands. Ginter had eight kills and Hall recorded 15 assists.

“We weren’t focuse on one hitter because they have several good hitters,” Fleissner said. “So we don’t really key on one. They were trying to pick apart the middle. We did a better job covering the middle (after the first game).”

Highlands came out and led 6-0 to start the first game. NewCath called timeout and took the lead briefly. Highlands finished the game with a 9-1 run. Hall had a block for a kill during the run and Frances Tracy landed an ace for Highlands.

“You still have to understand there is a task at hand,” Mulroney said. “There were still at least two games left to not only play, but to win the match. They don’t have that experience yet to do that in a varsity game.”

NewCath hit the ball at better angles and serve-received a lot better starting in the second game. The Lady Breds used two 6-0 runs to pull away in the second game. NewCath often faked to Kiernan and Fields landed kills down the lines.

The second and third games were closer. But NewCath used an 8-0 run to go up 15-5 in the third game and scored the first six points of the fourth game. The Lady Breds also scored  five in a row toward the end of the fourth game.

Newport Central Catholic travels to Cooper at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Highlands plays in its own Cake Classic on Friday and Saturday.