Lincoln VB rallies to beat Rockets
Published 12:12 pm Thursday, September 7, 2017
Photo by Nancy Leedy LADY PAT Savanna Smith goes up for one of her nine kills in the third game of Lincoln’s 3-1 win over Rockcastle County Tuesday at LCHS.
STANFORD — After dropping the first game of its match with Rockcastle County Tuesday night, the Lincoln County High School volleyball team rallied back to take three straight games and earn the 3-1 match win, 19-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-16.
The win was the fourth straight victory for the Lady Patriots and improved their record to 8-3. The loss was the sixth straight for the Lady Rockets, who fell to 2-7.
“We got another win. We are feeling pretty good,” Lincoln coach Samantha Torres said. “Of course, we weren’t as focused, as talkative as I would have liked tonight, but it’s okay. We’re still learning to be consistent.”
Torres attributed the lack of focus and less chatter on the floor for Lincoln’s stumble in the opening set of the best-of-5 match.
The Lady Patriots got off to a 5-1 start in Game 1 of the match and were up 7-4 when the Lady Rockets won the sideout and Maggie Franklin took over to serve. The Rockcastle senior would hold service for 12 straight points as the Lady Rockets turned a 7-4 deficit into a 16-7 lead.
“It really made a difference in that first set,” Torres said. “We got a little inconsistent. We lost our focus. And they took advantage of it. So we’ve just got to work on staying on top of our game the entire time.”
Rockcastle never relinquished the lead, holding on to take the opening game 25-19.
The Lady Rockets led only briefly in Game 2. Rockcastle had the opening serve and earned the first point, but Lincoln answered with five straight points to move ahead 5-1.
The Lady Patriots maintained their lead the rest of the way, pulling away to win Game 2 25-10 and even the match at 1-1.
Lincoln led from start to finish in Game 3 before taking the 25-19 win,
In Game 4, the Lady Patriots opened up a substantial lead, going on an 8-0 scoring tear behind the service game of Cassandra Jett. The scoring surge extended a 15-7 lead to 23-7.
Rockcastle wouldn’t just throw in the towel after the Lincoln surge, though. No, the Lady Rockets challenged with a 9-1 scoring run to get within 24-16. However, Sarah Cornelius’ serve on the sideout went long to score the final point for Lincoln and give the Lady Pats the match.
“The big lead that we got in that last set really helped because they did start coming back there. We needed that safety net, but we did get the win,” said Torres.
The Lincoln mentor said that she liked Rockcastle’s match and the outcome much better than the 3-2 nail-biting win over Casey County last week in the team’s home opener.
“Thank goodness it was not like last week. I like these better,” Torres said. “I like those quick and easy, in and out, matches.”
Savanna Smith had nine kills and a block for Lincoln in the win. Taryn Johnson had six kills, a block and eight digs. Peyton Griffin had five aces and eight assists, Jasmine Whited had four aces and eight assists, Cassandra Jett had three aces and a block, Jessie Wilson had three aces, and Ashlyn Jarman had six digs.
