As the defending district champs with several key players returning, the Harlan County Lady Bears took some momentum into the 2023 season.
They did nothing to temper those expectations Monday in the season-opening match against visiting Leslie County, a team that won 18 matches and advanced to the 14th Region Tournament semifinals last season.
Harlan County rolled to a 25-16, 25-16, 25-18 victory.
“What a great way to kick the season off,” said Harlan County coach Christina Jones. “ The girls came out and played amazing. Everyone stepped up, played their role and got the job done.”
Savannah Hill led the Lady Bears with 11 digs, 10 assists and one kill. Kalista Dunn had eight kills with six aces, six digs adnd three assists. Ashton Evans added nine kills and 10 digs with one ace. Destiny Cornett contributed 13 assists and two kills. Kylee Hoiska added five digs, one ace, four kills and one block. Rileigh Duff added four kills, three digs, two aces and one assist. Lesleigh Brown added five digs.
Harlan County will return to action Tuesday at home against Whitley County.
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Harlan County threw a scare into the defending regional champs before falling 19-25, 27-25, 25-14, 25-17 in four sets on Tuesday at home
“I just want to first give credit to Harlan County for playing a great volleyball match,” Whitley County coach David Halcomb told the 13th Region Media Network “I’ve obviously not seen all the teams in the region yet, but I think we will be hard-pressed to see a team that has improved as much as they have since last season. Coach (Jones) and her staff have done a great job with their girls. They came out ready play and really took it to us at the beginning of the match. We got on our heels a little bit and just made too many mistakes and just couldn’t get in a good rhythm.
Dunn led HCHS with 14 digs, 10 kills, three assists and one service ace. Hoiska added 15 digs, two blocks, one kill and one assist. Hill had 11 digs with eight assists, two aces and one kill. Evans had 10 digs, four kills, one ace and one ace. Cornett added seven assists, two kills and one block. Brown had three digs and two aces. Duff contributed 10 digs, two aces and three kills.
