After playing most of the season in the Elementary/Middle School gymnasium, the Crestview Lady Knights, finally got to play on their newly renovated home court.
The Lady Thunderbirds would get the first point of the game. LCC would win the 13th point, on a long rally between the two teams. They would trade points back-and-forth, all the way to an 8-8 tie. LCC would go up briefly 9-8, before the Lady Knights would score 6 straight points to take a 14-9 lead, and force a Thunderbirds timeout. It would all be for naught, as the Knights would dominate the first set, winning 25-12.
Crestview would get the first point of the second set. Like in the first set, the teams would trade points. The Lady Thunderbirds would take a 6-5 lead, and would keep the lead for most of the set. Crestview head coach Tammy Gregory would call a timeout, after losing the 23rd point of the match, down 13-10.
The Lady Knights would take the lead at 14-13. LCC would retake the lead, getting it to 20-18. Crestview would score 2 points, and force a LCC timeout. Like in the first set, it wouldn’t work out for the Lady Thunderbirds, as the Lady Knights would win a hard fought second set, 25-22.
The Lady Knights would get out to a fast start in the third set, jumping to a 4-1. The Lady Thunderbirds would fight back and get it to a 6-6 tie. Crestview would take an 8-6 lead, before the teams trade single points back-and-forth, all the way to a 11-10 game. The Lady Knights would score 4 straight points getting it to 15-10.
They’d get it to 19-14, and once again, the Lady Thunderbirds would fight back, and take a 20-19 lead. That would force a Crestview timeout. The Lady Knights would take the lead, and never relent, winning the third set 25-23, and sweeping the match 3-0.
After the game, I asked Lady Knights Head Coach Tammy Gregory about their 5 game winning, and how they’ve kept this energy up, after playing 3 games this week alone.
“Yeah, it’s a quick turnaround, but the girls know what it takes, and they’re gonna keep battling. We’re back at it Saturday, and we know what we face Saturday is gonna be completely different from what we’ve seen this week. The tempo and the level of play. It’s gonna open our eyes, and it could be a long Saturday. We love the competition, and it’s gonna make us better down the road.”
I asked her with the regular season coming to an end this month, what does she, the staff, and the girls, need to do, to keep this momentum going.
“First off, we need to stay healthy. With the change in the weather, we have a couple girls actually dealing with illnesses. We also need to just focus on the little things, and the basics. We can never get enough practice serving. All those fundamental things, the comeback, the backcheck, we know that we gotta be stronger in every area on the board.”
I noticed that in the first 2 sets, nobody was on the backline. In the third set, there was. I asked if that in-game adjustment was her call.
“No. A lot of their balls were going long, and the girls read the hitter.”
Leading the way for the Lady Knights…..
Serving
Delanie Balliet 20/20 with 5 aces
Nora Perkins 10/10 with 3 aces
Ayla Kreischer 14/14 with 1 ace
Hitting
Kaci Gregory 13 kills
Kaylee Owens 9 kills
Kenadie Schwartz 9 kills
Setting
Nora Perkins 23 assists
Digs
Kaci Gregory & Delanie Balliet 7 digs each
Ayla Kreischer 6 digs
Blocks
Kaylee Owens 2 stuff blocks
Serve Receive
Kaci Gregory 29/29
The Crestview Lady Knights improves to 5-0 in the NWC and 8-5 overall. They will be back in action on Saturday, as they host The Lady Knight Invitational, and will compete in three matches on the day with their first match being the second one at approx. 10am vs Fairbanks.
– by Sean McKenzie
Stats courtesy of…..Tammy Gregory
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