Ohio County High’s Lady Eagle volleyball team lost to visiting Edmonson County Tuesday night at the OCHS gym. Thursday night coach Becky Taylor’s team traveled to Morgantown to face Butler County in their final preseason scrimmage.
The Lady Eagles open their 2012 season Tuesday, hosting Edmonson County again. A freshman match is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m., followed by junior varsity and varsity matches.
Ohio County played the tall Lady Wildcats close in the first set, losing 27-25 with the second set also going to the visitors. Of the varsity match, coach Taylor commented, “We played well together as a team. Deanna (Raley) did all she could do — serving, setting, and hitting — placing the ball well. Olivia Melton played great on the net, Emily Edlin ran the floor and made some great sets. Haley Coppage was back after being away all summer…and didn’t seem to be missing a beat. We needed (her) extra height. Kayla Brown is playing extremely hard and making the difficult transitions across the floor and brings a nice hard serve.”
“Octaivia Brown is stepping up in the sixth spot,” Taylor continued, “playing the back row extremely well, and will be playing in the front row and serving. This year we will be using the bench, with Hannah Abner and Allisa Wortham being able to come in and serve and play back row. And Mykael Embry will be playing front row.”
Both the schools’ junior varsity and freshman teams played only two sets, instead of the regular best two-of-three, with both squads splitting 1-1 with Edmonson County. Marci Dant and Savannah Mattingly drew praise for their play for the Lady Eagle freshmen, while Dant, Abner, Wortham, Embry, Kayla Bailey, Katelynn Cook, Brynn Coburn, Cortney Fleener, Lauren Ford, Megan Henderson, Kerstyn Joynt, and Ashton Smith “all contributed and played well together as a team” in the JV match.
