Harlan County ended a 14-match losing streak against district rival Harlan that stretched back to 2014 in a four-set victory Tuesday over the visiting Lady Dragons. HCHS won a hard-fought match by a score of 29-27, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22.
“To say I’m proud of the girls’ effort tonight would be a understatement,” Harlan County coach Christina Spurlock said. “There was times we made little mistakes, but in the end we closed the night on a big win.”
Harlan fell to 1-6 with the loss, not a surprise for a team that lost all six starters from a year ago and has no seniors or juniors on its roster.
“Last night’s game was a tough fight with each set being within couple a points of each other,” Harlan coach Cori Kirk said. “My girls fought really hard and played well. We are a young team that has grown tremendously over this season so far. Every practice and game the girls continue to learn and grow.”
The Lady Dragons raced to a 12-6 lead in the first set following an ace from Taylor Hall before Lindsey Browning, Chloe Shelton and Kamryn Hoiska led a comeback. There were eight ties, from 20-all to 27-all, before a Lilly Caballero kill finally ended a set that featured numerous unforced errors on both sides.
HCHS pulled away late in the second set, capped by a couple of Caballero kills, to take the 2-0 lead.
Harlan grabbed an early lead in the third set behind Hall and Marissa Marlowe and pulled away for the win.
Eighth-grader Carley Thomas reeled off four straight service points in the fourth set to give Harlan a 16-14 lead. HCHS rallied but a point by Hall tied the set at 22-all before the Lady Bears scored the final three points.
Browning led the Lady Bears with 12 kills, five assists, two service aces, one dig and one block. Lily Caballero added seven kills with one assist, one service ace and two digs. Shelton added nine assists and two service aces. Brenna Early had three assists, one dig and one kill. Emily Eldridge contributed one dig and one assist. Lindsay Hall had two service aces and two assists.
Emma Owens led Harlan with 50 digs, four service aces, seven assists and two kills. Bailee Maples had 38 digs, five assists, two service aces and one kill. Marlowe added 14 assists, 12 digs, seven kills and one service ace. Hoskins had 11 digs, seven assists, seven kills and one service ace. Thomas added 31 digs, six service aces, two assists and four kills. Hall had 16 digs, five service aces and five assists. Bryson had four digs.
Harlan County clinched the third seed in the upcoming district tournament and will play Middlesboro. Top-seeded Bell County will play Harlan in the first round of the district tourney.
Harlan will play host to Bell County on Thursday. Harlan County (3-7) will be at home against Pineville on Thursday.
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Harlan dropped a 25-19, 33-31, 25-15 decision to visiting Barbourville on Monday.
Owens had 10 assists and one service ace to lead the Lady Dragons. Thomas added six assists, two service aces, three kills and one dig. Marlowe contributed four assists, three digs and one service ace. Campbell Nunez added four assists.
Harlan County fell 25-10, 25-12 to Perry Central on Thursday.
Lindsay Hall led Harlan Cunty with two service aces and two digs. Kateria Lewis had two digs and one assist. Lindsey Browning contributed two blocks. Kamryn Hoiska had one block.

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Harlan County improved to 5-4 in junior varsity action with a 21-14, 19-21, 15-6 win over Harlan.
Brooklyn Wood led the Lady Bears with 12 service point and five aces. Chloe Shelton had six service points with four aces. Lindsey Hall added six service points and three aces.
HCHS fell 21-9, 21-17 to Perry Central on Thursday. Shelton led the Lady Bears with four service points.