Thursday Highlands Sports Round-Up

Highlands Soccer Teams Shut Out Region Opponents

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands junior Honor Valentine prepares to serve in a recent game.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team (11-1-2 overall) concluded the regular season with a convincing 9th Region road victory, 9-0 over the struggling St. Henry Lady Crusaders (4-8-1).

Highlands had 19 shots including 13 on goal. St. Henry had just three. Senior goalkeeper Jasmine Rehberger had one save in the 10th shutout of the year for the Bluebirds.

"I think with a shortened season, they're still trying to figure some things out for postseason," said Alex Dean, Highlands Head Coach. "We did not take them lightly. We came out and started the game with a lot of energy more than we did on Monday and Tuesday. (Wednesday) at practice, we talked about the importance of putting goals in. Defense has been playing well all year. Offense has been playing well. But we need to start finishing the ball. So for about 90 minutes, we worked on finishing the ball. It was great to see it pay off."

Eight different players scored goals and six had assists for the Bluebirds. Freshman forward Laney Smith led the way with two goals and an assist for five points. Smith has 15 goals and five assists for 35 points on the season.

Junior forward Chloe Bramble had one goal and three assists for five points for Highlands. Bramble has four goals and five assists for 13 points. Junior forward Faith Broering had one goal for her 11th on the season to go with five assists for 27 points.

The five others to score goals were junior Macy Hedenberg, senior defender Greta Noble, senior Maggie Stieby and freshman Claire Cavacini to go with an assist. Senior Kelsey Listerman, sophomore Alyssa Harris and senior Katelyn Vaught had assists.

"(Coach Dean) has been really open about it and very positive about (improving daily)," said Carly Dickman, Highlands junior midfielder. "He tells us when we do well. He doesn't necessarily get upset if we make mistakes, rather we had a good attempt and we can do better."

Highlands plays in the 36th District championship on Tuesday at Tower Park. Game time is 8 p.m.

Soccer, Boys:

Highlands 3, Cooper 1:

The Bluebirds (7-3-2) won a third straight pulling away at halftime after lead 1-0 over the Jaguars (8-3-1).

Highlands had 19 shots with seven on goal. Cooper had six shots with four on goal. Highlands sophomore goalkeeper Connor Mathis had four saves.

"We played super well. Even being up 1-0 at half, we felt we were pretty dominant overall," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "We kept possession really well. We attacked them. We had a few chances. It realistically could have been 3-0 at half. We could face them at some level of the district tournament. We made sure we still had the same focus."

The Bluebirds scored the only goal they needed with 18:56 left in the first half. Senior Max Farris scored his team-high eighth goal of the year to go with three assists for 19 points.

Sophomore Colin Pieper scored both goals in the second half for Highlands. Those are the first two he scored this year. Farris had an assist on the first one with 23:38 left in the game.

"We know we have the talent," Pieper said. "We know Cooper is always one of the top teams in the region. We kept that in mind. We knew we had to start strong and that's what we did. We just carried through the rest of the game."

Highlands plays host to Louisville Trinity on Saturday. Game time is 7 p.m.

Volleyball:

Cooper 3, Highlands 1:

Highlands (10-6) managed to take the second game, 29-27 against the Cooper Lady Jaguars (9-3) in a 9th Region battle in Union.

But the Bluebirds could not stop their losing streak that extended to four games. Cooper won the first game, 25-21 before taking the third and fourth games, 25-13 and 26-24.

Highlands had a .098 hitting percentage connected for 45 assists and kills on 163 attempts and just 29 errors. The Bluebirds also had nine aces, 87 digs, six solo and six assisted blocks to go with 12 serving errors, 12 receiving errors, 10 blocking errors and no general ball-hitting errors.

Highlands senior Laura Winkler had eight kills, 22 assists, 13 digs, three aces and on assisted block. Senior Maria Little had 21 assists, one ace and eight digs. Junior CC Shick had the most kills with 13, two solo blocks and 10 digs. Junior Lauren Buemi had 11 kills, two solo blocks and four digs. Junior Nicole Ossege had four kills and nine digs. Junior Madison Clore had three aces and 14 digs. Junior Honor Valentine had 17 digs and junior Sophia Sarkatsannis had eight.

Highlands travels to Dixie Heights on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.