Thursday Sports Round-Up

Highlands Soccer, Volleyball Teams Win

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands sophomore midfielder Porter Hedenberg battles for position in a recent game.

Between the 10th and 20th minutes, Head Coach Chad Niedert said the Highlands Bluebirds played some great soccer.

During that stretch, Highlands senior Elias Ordonez scored his team-high fifth and sixth goals of the season to lift the Bluebirds to a 2-0 non-region victory over the South Oldham Dragons. Senior Nick Gish had a team-high fifth assist of the year on one of those scores.

Highlands moved to 8-4 on the year with its fourth win in five games. South Oldham dropped to 5-7.

"It felt good. We're used to a lot of momentum," said Luke Schweitzer, Highlands junior forward. "If we win one, we start getting them back-to-back. But if we lose one, we usually lose some more in a row. That's kind of been the season. We bounced back from Tuesday (a 1-0 loss at Covington Catholic) so we should win some more now."

Highlands outshot South Oldham, 17-7 including 5-4 on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Fischer made his first varsity start because junior Will Burnham could not play. Fischer made four saves.

"Nick Fischer came into the game with eight minutes left Tuesday," Niedert said. "He's a natural leader. He took control of the game."

Highlands plays host to North Oldham on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Volleyball:
Highlands 2, Covington Holmes 0:

The Ladybirds took care of the visitors quickly by 25-4, 25-2 scores. Highlands moved to 9-6 overall and 6-4 in 9th Region action with its third straight win.

"It's encouraging to know that our hard work and effort is paying off in games," said Joy Kapesser, Highlands senior right side hitter. "Many of us have been playing together for several years. So there's an understanding that intensifies our communication and ability to play together on the court."

Highlands recorded 21 kills, 21 assists, 15 aces, 19 digs and no blocks. Gracie Schweitzer led the Ladybirds with five digs and Rylee Kirschenbaum had four. Maddie McCoy had a team-high seven kills and setter Audrey Graves had 15 assists. Graves and Schweitzer had four aces each.

Highlands travels to Scott on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m.