CORBIN — Down two sets to one against Pineville in the first round of the 13th Region Tournament on Saturday at Lynn Camp, the Harlan County Lady Bears appeared headed toward an eighth straight first-round exit.
Lesleigh Brown, the Lady Bears’ lone senior, reeled off nine straight points on serve as HCHS took control in the fourth set on the way to a 25-13, 25-27, 23-25, 25-7, 15-9 victory.
“Brown stepped up and played a great game. Lesleigh has always had a great serve and that showed tonight,” Harlan County coach Christina Jones said. “We started making silly mistakes in the second set and got rattled and nervous, but the girls played as a team tonight —very aggressive and with heart. They fought till the end, and for that I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Harlan County started strong, racing to a 7-0 lead in the first set. Pineville cut the deficit to five with a 10-3 run before Kalista Dunn and Ashton Evans had kills to put the Lady Bears back in control. Evans and Hoiska closed out the set with a kill and ace, respectively.
Pineville grabbed an early lead in the second set with the Lady Bears battling from behind to pull even seven times before finally taking the lead at 22-21. Pineville closed with a 6-2 run to win the set.
The length of Pineville juniors Ava Arnett and Kamryn Bilter gave HCHS problems in the second and third sets. Harlan County took the lead late in the third set before the Lady Lions closed strong again and claimed another two-point victory.
HCHS dominated the fourth set, sparked by Brown’s serves and kills from Kylee Hoiska, Evans, Dunn and Savannah Hill.
The fifth set was tied at 5 when eighth grader Ashlynn Williamson recorded two straight aces in a 3-0 run. Dunn and Evarts had kills before Hoiska closed out the match with an ace.
“Williamson is stepping up and playing a big role. Her defense is one of the best we have,” Jones said. “She’s done great.”
Evans led HCHS with 27 digs, 18 kills and two assists. Dunn added 23 digs, 21 kills, four aces and six assists. Hill had 37 assists, 16 digs, two kills and one ace. Brown added 20 digs, four aces and two kills. Hoiska contributed five aces, five digs, eight kills, two assists and one block.Williamson chipped in with eight digs and four aces.
Arnett had a huge night for Pineville with 22 digs, 11 kills, 12 blocks and one service ace. Biliter had 18 digs, seven assists, five blocks, four aces and two kills. Addison Slone added 13 digs, five kills and four blocks. Brynlee Sizemore and Makayla Terrell each had 10 digs with Sizemore adding five assists. Mackenzie Caldwell added nine digs and one assist.
Harlan County improved to 19-9 with the victory and moved to within one win of tying the school record for victories set in 2013, The Lady Bears have also never made it past the semifinal round in the regional tournament. HCHS will play Corbin in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. on Monday. Bell County will take on Whitley County in the second semifinal. The championship game is set for Tuesday at 6.