Lewisburg volleyball finished its Region 1-7A schedule with an undefeated record but needed a five-set thriller to knock off Hernando 3-2 Wednesday night at Theron E. Long Memorial Gymnasium in Hernando. Set scores were 25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 16-25, 15-10.
“I thought we were able to make the plays at the end to grab momentum but it was neck and neck after that first set,” said Lewisburg coach Amy Hendrichovsky. “It was great, great volleyball for this area.”
The 25-7 Lady Patriots won the opening set of the rare Wednesday night meeting 25-14 after breaking open a tight set at 5-5 and took a 16-9 lead after a Lewisburg kill. After an exchange of points, a point off a Hallie Wright block made the score 17-10, which became 20-10 after a kill and Hernando was forced to call a timeout.
A couple of Hernando errors grew the margin to 23-13 and a Lady Tiger serve into the net finished the set at 25-14.
The second set was much tougher for Lewisburg, which escaped with a 25-23 victory. This time, the Lady Tigers broke out to a 14-11 lead in the set but the Lady Patriots came back to tie the set at 15-15. A kill would later give Lewisburg a 19-16 edge but a couple of errors later brought Hernando back within 21-20. The Lady Tigers got within 24-23 with a point off a block but a service error on the next serve won the set for Lewisburg 25-23.
Hernando struggled through another tough set and some adversity when some key calls went against them in posting a 25-23 third set victory.
The Lady Tigers took a 10-8 lead in the set and later in the set Lewisburg reciprocated with a 21-19 lead after a kill. But three consecutive kills from Hernando put the Lady Tigers back in front 22-21. A Lewisburg error put Hernando on the brink of winning the set 24-22 and it would be an exchange of points that propelled the Lady Tigers for the win with a Lady Patriots attack error the deciding point.
Hernando dominated the fourth set to force a 15-point fifth-set decider. The Lady Tigers put together a seven-point streak to open and when a Lewisburg volley was hit into the net, Hernando had built a 12-3 advantage. The lead became 10 points at 15-5 after a Hernando sideout and later grew to 11 at 22-11. A kill finished the set at 25-16.
In the deciding fifth set, Hernando had a 10-8 lead but Lewisburg scored the final seven straight points for the set and match point.
Wednesday’s match had no impact on the final standings, other than it ensured that Lewisburg would finish the regular season without losing to a Region 1-7A rival.
“We didn’t set that goal (when the season started), but it was great,” Hendrichovsky said. “We talked about it this week that it was something we wanted to be able to do. Region 1-7A is where we have to battle every night and that’s what makes us better.”
SPORTS ETC.: Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball has won a school-record ninth straight match victory with Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Jones College, the Lady Rangers’ second straight MACCC conference win.
LADY RANGERS WIN!
Northwest continues the longest winning streak in program history, taking its ninth straight match, while improving to 13-6 and 2-0 in the MACCC!#ALLNpic.twitter.com/OSRhodYzkX
