Bluebird Volleyball Takes Cake Classic |
| Contributed Photo. The Highlands volleyball team won the Cake Classic for the second time in four years going 3-0 Saturday. |
The Highlands Bluebirds volleyball team (7-2 overall) won the annual Cake Classic at Russell Bridges Gym on Saturday.
The tournament is normally two days. But Highlands played just three games in one day this year as a result of Coronavirus 2019.
"It's always fun with the Cake," said Katelyn Sallee, Highlands Head Coach. "It's a nice feeling to put the work in the tournament and to celebrate the win in the end. I feel feel like we've been in a groove this weekend trying some new things that seemed to click and work well."
Highlands played Boone County to open the tournament and won 2-0 (25-11, 25-12). The Bluebirds had nine aces, 20 kills, six assisted blocks, 20 assists and 42 digs. Senior Laura Winkler had 10 digs, eight assists, one assisted block, four kills and one ace.
Junior middle blocker Lauren Buemi had six kills, one assisted block and four digs. Junior middle blocker Avery Cavacini had two assisted blocks, two digs and a kill. Junior outside hitter CC Shick had four kills, one assisted block and a dig with junior outside hitter Sophia Sarakatsannis tallying three kills, one assisted bock, four digs and an assist.
"I think in the last week, our passing has really been a key," Winkler said. "Even at this tournament, our middles were able to get more involved with blocking and hitting and I think that was a huge reason why we won on Saturday."
Junior Madison Clore had three aces, eight digs and two assists. Junior Honor Valentine had seven digs and two aces. Senior Maria Little had two aces, nine assists and four digs.
Highlands then finished pool play with a 2-1 win (24-26, 25-23, 15-10) over the South Oldham Lady Dragons. The Bluebirds had five aces, 34 kills, four assisted blocks, one solo by Buemi, 34 assists and 69 digs.
Clore had a big game with 21 digs, an ace and an assist. Valentine had 14 digs and two aces. Buemi had 11 kills and one assisted block. Winkler had six kills, 16 assists, 12 digs and an ace. Little had 17 assists, seven digs and an ace. Shick had seven kills and an assist with Sarakatsannis tallying seven digs and four kills. Junior outside hitter Nicole Ossege had five kills and two digs.
Highlands advanced to the championship game and beat Conner, 2-0 (25-18, 25-19). Highlands had 25 assists and kills, two aces, three solo and four assisted blocks and 51 digs.
Valentine had 14 digs and an ace with Clore digging up 11 balls. Shick and Buemi led the way with 10 kills each. Shick also had two solo and two assisted block. 14 assists, six digs and an ace.
Highlands plays host to Newport on Tuesday. Game time is 6 p.m.
Soccer, Boys:
Highlands 3, Bishop Brossart 1:
Highlands (3-1-1) bounced back from the loss to Covington Catholic on Thursday a win in the first road game of the season.
The Bluebirds lost 4-0 against the blue Colonels. But Highlands Head Coach Chad Niedert said the Bluebirds hope to be more competitive against CovCath should the two teams meet in the 9th Region Tournament. That snapped a run of 26-0-3 against Northern Kentucky competition dating back to the 3-1 loss to Ryle in the 2017 9th Region championship game.
"Against CovCath, we found out things about our team that were huge opportunities for us to grow," Niedert said. "Faster guys can be dynamic. We were trying to be dynamic as a team accordingly. We threw out some different options, different shakes. I think it went really well. We dominated the midfield. Our possession was outstanding. We were really patient on the ball and made some really good decisions as the game went on."
Highlands took 25 shots with eight on goal to just three shots and one on goal for Bishop Brossart (4-2). Senior Austin Frazier had three shots on goal to lead the Bluebirds and scored off a corner kick from senior Max Farris with 26 minutes left in the first half to put the Bluebirds up 1-0. That is Frazier's fourth goal of the year.
The Mustangs tied it a few minutes later. But Max Farris scored his team-high fifth goal of the season with 2:58 left in the first half to put Highlands up for good at 2-1.
The lone goal of the second half came with 29:45 left. Junior Jordan Frisk scored off an assist from sophomore Colin Pieper. That's the second goal for Frisk and third assist of the year for Pieper.
"We really had a hard time getting the ball in the middle (against CovCath) since we only had three guys there," Frisk said. "CovCath was really using the outsides to its advantage. We changed formations and had more people in the midfield. We created a lot more passes, which created opportunities for the guys up front."
Highlands travels to Loveland (Ohio) on Tuesday. Game time is 7:15 p.m.
Soccer, Girls:
Lexington Dunbar 3, Highlands 2 (Penalty Kicks):
Highlands (4-1-1) found itself nine minutes away from winning the first Lexington Catholic Cup since 2006. But the Bluebirds could not hold off Dunbar falling 5-4 on penalty kicks.
Highlands took a 1-0 lead with 26 minutes left in the first half when senior Greta Noble played a through ball to freshman forward Laney Smith. That is the sixth goal of the season for Smith.
Highlands junior Chloe Bramble scored with nine minutes left in the game on an assist from junior Faith Broering. That is the first goal of the season for Bramble and the third assist for Broering.
The Bluebirds play host to Dixie Heights (5-0) on Monday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Kentucky Golf Coaches Association All-State Championships:
The Highlands Bluebirds boys finished sixth out of 15 teams in the tournament played at the University of Club of Kentucky in Lexington shooting a 617. Madison Central shot 589 to win the tournament.
Highlands senior Justin Gabbard led the way shooting 145 to tie for eighth out of 96 golfers and Luke Muller shot 149 to take 20th. Sophomore Joel Craft shot 154 to take 43rd. Junior Jack Schneider shot 169 to tie for 78th to round out the scoring. Eighth grader Hank Shick shot 174 to tie for 86th.
Senior Ellie Rowland and junior KJ Toole qualified on the girls side out of 95 golfers. Toole finished 54th shooting a two-day total of 176 and Rowland took 66th shooting 185.
The Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Golf Tournament takes place Monday. The girls play at AJ Jolly Golf Course in Alexandria and the boys travel to the Willows Golf Course in Independence.
Cross Country:
The Highlands boys and girls cross country teams ran in the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational at Tow Sawyer Park in Louisville on Saturday.
Only three runners ran for the Highlands girls. Senior Maggie Schroeder finished 14th out of 406 runners in 19 minutes, 11.9 seconds.
The Highlands boys finished 18th out of 37 teams with 560 points. Senior Will Griffith led Highlands finishing 86th out of 549 runners in 17:19.5. Freshman Malcolm Robertson finished 89th in 17:20.1.
Highlands takes on Notre Dame and Covington Catholic in a dual meet on Tuesday.
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