Monday Highlands Sports Round-up

Highlands Girls Soccer Blanks Another Opponent

Highlands senior midfielder Maggie Stieby plays the ball in a game earlier this season.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team (6-1-1 overall) had not played in a week after the cancellation of a game Saturday against West Jessamine.

But the Bluebirds started strong and defeated the county rival Bishop Brossart Lady 'Stangs (3-6), 4-0 Monday at Tower Park. Highlands posted its sixth shutout of the season with the win.

"It was a nice week that we had off," said Alex Dean, Highlands Head Coach. "We kind of recovered from last Monday's battle against a very physical Dixie (Height) team. We had another tough battle against a physical Bishop Brossart team. We came out guns blazing. We knew we couldn't keep their confidence up so we had to put one in and hopefully hurt their confidence a little bit. We did that. Bishop Brossart still continued to play hard. But we continued to fight. Our defense continued to do a great job."

Highlands had nine shots with five on goal. Bishop Brossart had one shot on goal and junior goalkeeper Hailey Parks made the save. Senior goalkeeper Jasmine Rehberger and junior Meg Gessner also saw action in between the pipes for the Bluebirds.

"This year, the defense has really stepped up," said Jade Rehberger, Highlands junior defender. "Getting the shutouts was one of our goals this year. Our communication was super great (Monday) and we're just continuing to get better."

Freshman forward Claire Cavacini led Highlands with two goals. Freshman forward Laney Smith and junior forward Chloe Bramble had the other two. Smith also had an assist. Junior midfielder Faith Broering had two assists with seniors Maggie Stieby and Kelsey Listerman adding one each.

Smith leads Highlands with seven goals and two assists for 16 points. Broering is second with three goals and a team-high five assists for 11 points.

The Bluebirds had seven corner kicks, two fouls and one offsides penalty. Bishop Brossart had four fouls.

Highlands plays Covington Holy Cross on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Volleyball:

Highlands 3, Boone County 0:

Highlands (9-2 overall) won its sixth straight with a convincing three-game win (25-7, 25-15, 25-15) on the road. That is the second win over the Lady Rebels (1-10) this year.

"Boone has some quality kids. (The Lady Rebels) have an outside (hitter) and a libero that I think are really competitive," said Katelyn Sallee, Highlands Head Coach. "It was a good night to go in and treat everyone like we should always do. Everyone is a threat. Everyone is trying to beat you. (You) come in with laser focus and get your job done." 

The Bluebirds had 36 kills, 36 assists, 42 digs, 13 aces and four blocks. Senior Laura Winkler led the way with 12 kills, 15 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Junior CC Shick had nine kills, one solo and one assisted block. Juniors Honor Valentine and Madison Clore had 11 digs and three aces each. Senior Maria Little had 20 assists, two kills, five digs and two aces. Junior Lauren Buemi had seven kills and one ace.

"We have all had to take on new roles," said Nicole Ossege, junior outside hitter. "We are all very supportive and encouraging to each other because it's somewhat of a rebuilding year in the sense that we have to find players for almost every spot. We have a great understanding of each other and are able to pick each other up whenever we are down."

Highlands travels to Bishop Brossart on Tuesday. Game time is 6 p.m.