Bluebirds Down Holy Cross |
| PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands senior setter Audrey Graves had 45 assists in the win at Covington Holy Cross on Thursday. |
During the 14-2 start, Highlands won the swept through the best-of-three or best-of-two matches in the September Slam in 13 of their 14 wins. The only game the Bluebirds won where they lost a set came on Sept. 3 in a 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-7) win at Walton-Verona.
The All "A" State champion Lady Indians (19-4) pulled off the first set, 31-29. But the Bluebirds regrouped and won the next three by 25-18, 25-23, 25-11 scores to win the match. They have won five straight and are 8-1 against region opponents. Highlands is 2-0 against Holy Cross this year.
"I feel that we started off slow the first set," said CC Shick, Highlands sophomore middle blocker. "But in the second set, we started to string a couple big points together, which boosted us with a lot of big digs, aces and strong blocks. I'm proud of the team because we faced some adversity with losing a set. But we fought back."
Highlands wound up hitting .204 connecting on 47-of-152 hitting attempts with 16 errors. The Bluebirds also had 47 assists, 14 aces and 76 digs to go with four service errors, 13 receiving errors, five blocking errors and seven general ball-hitting errors.
"We came out a little weak in the first set," said Katelyn Sallee, Highlands Head Coach. "Our serve receive and overall energy was weak. We rallied and almost came out with the win. The girls were able to make quite a few corrections and really focus on an increase of energy to pull out the next three. It was a pretty incredible fight!"
Senior Casey Dunn had 15 kills, four aces and 21 digs. Senior middle blocker Ava Hockney had 11 kills and four aces with senior setter Audrey Graves contributing 45 assists, three aces, two kills and 10 digs. Shick had eight kills, one solo and one combined block. Sophomore Lauren Buemi also had three kills, one solo and one assisted block. Junior Laura Winkler added eight kills for Highlands.
The two senior defensive specialists in Rylee Kirschenbaum and Brooke Biltz had 24 and nine digs respectively and sophomore Madison Clore had seven. Clore also had three aces.
Highlands has senior Navaeh Votel as a manager this year. Two players were cut from the team, but Votel said she was not one of them.
"I thought it would be a better option for me to just stick with the team and be a manager," Votel said. "I really enjoy all the people on the team have kind of become sisters with all of them as cheesy as it sounds. It was really important for me to be around them. I think the volleyball program has added a lot of importance to my life."
Sallee said the middle school teams make the most cuts. As they get older, Sallee said players generally quit playing if they've not had a role mostly between the sophomore and junior seasons when adjusting from the junior varsity to the varsity team.
"She's awesome. We would have hated to lose her," Sallee said of Votel. "It's a tough decision your senior year to still give up some of your time and to not be able to wear the jersey you've always wanted to wear. There's just a lot of sacrifice in that. But ultimately, she loves our program. She loves these girls and she wants to be around."
Highlands plays host to Simon Kenton on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Soccer, Boys:
Highlands 2, Cincinnati La Salle 2:
The Bluebirds (10-4-4) tied the game with less than 10 minutes to go to pull off the draw despite not having everyone available for the game.
Junior Brayden Gillman scored the late goal and senior George Gates had the other one. Senior Ford Orem had an assist.
Highlands had 17 shots with 11 on goal and the Lancers had 15 shots with 10 on goal. Senior goalkeeper Nick Fischer had six saves.
Highlands travels to Loveland (Ohio) on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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