By CHARLIE HUST
Webster County’s volleyball season came to an end last Tuesday night in the opening round of the Sixth District Tournament hosted by WCHS.
Union County (16-21) out-lasted the Lady Trojans in the opening set of the tourney opener and then cruised to the three-set win to advance to the title game against Henderson County.
Webster looked to make their first-ever appearance in that championship round with a very strong opening to the contest against the Bravettes. The two squads exchanged points early in the first set until Webster went on a solid run behind five kills from Christian Papineau and four straight service aces from Hannah Heady to gain a 19-14 lead.
The momentum quickly turned behind the backline play of Union County freshman Faith Little. She connected on four straight kills from the back line to trim the lead to 19-18. Union took a shocking 21-19 lead on back-to-back service winners and looked to close out the first set.
But Webster rallied on a ‘dinker’ over the net from Darrian McNary and a service ace from Moriah Wallace, tying the game at 21-all. The two squads exchanged points and another kill from Papineau made it 23-23.
Union then closed out the match with two straight points to hand the Lady Trojans a heartbreaking 25-23 loss.
Webster was never the same after that first set loss as Union raced out to a 10-1 lead in the second set and won in convincing fashion 25-3. They earned a spot in the finals with a 25-8 win in the final set.
“We just lost our energy,” noted WCHS head coach Bradley Brown, whose squad won four games this year, much improved from just one victory in 2012. “In the first set we played the way we’re supposed to play. Set the ball, kill the ball, pass the ball, return the ball.”
Despite the loss, Brown had praise for his squad, which losses only one senior Darrian McNary.
“They did a fantastic job this year and I hope they all come back to play next year,” he stated. “If they come back, we could have a fantastic year.”
Henderson (32-4) dominated the Bravettes in the final match of the one-day tourney 25-8, 25-21, 25-10 to claim the district championship.
Three WCHS players were selected to All-District squads as McNary and junior Hannah Heady were named All-District based on regular season play while fellow junior Christian Papineau was named to the All-District Academic squad.