Harlan County opened its district schedule Thursday with a 25-12, 25-15, 26-24 victory over visiting Harlan in a game that had a tournament atmosphere with large and loud student cheering sections for both teams.
Kalista Dunn led the 2-1 Lady Bears with 10 service aces, nine kills and three digs. Chloe Shelton added 13 assists, with one ace and one dig. Destiny Cornett had 11 assists and three kills. Lindsay Hall added eight kills and four digs. Ashton Evans had four digs, three assists and two kills. Kylee Hoiska contributed three digs, two kills and two assists. Emilee Eldridge added three kills. Lesleigh Brown had two aces. Brooklyn Wood added dig.
Carley Thomas led the 2-2 Lady Dragons with four service aces, four blocks and three kills. Annie Hoskins had five blocks, one kill and one dig. Emma Owens added five assists, two aces and one dig. Ella Farley chipped in with three digs and three assists. Marissa Marlowe had one ace and one kill. Ava Nunez had three blocks. Taylor Hall added two aces and one dig. Campbell Nunez had two aces. Tess Bryson contributed two digs. Carley Jump added one dig, and Kendyll Blanton had one assist.
After winning the first set convincingly, the Lady Bears trailed 5-3 in the second set before reeling off six straight points. Dunn closed out the set with a kill.
The Lady Dragons also took an early lead in the third set and were still on top at 15-12 before Harlan County fought back to tie it at 23-23 and then 24-24 before two straight returns by Harlan were long to end the game.
Harlan County travels to Bell County on Tuesday with the leader moving into first place in the 52nd District standings. Harlan will play host to Barbourville on Tuesday.
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Harlan County claimed a 21-12, 21-9 victory in junior varsity action.
Destiny Cornett led the Lady Bears with nine kills, 10 assists and three aces. Savannah Hill had eight straight points with two kills, four digs and two aces. Kylee Moyers had seven service points. Ally Sherman added five service points and one ace. Rileigh Duff contributed seven digs and one kill.
No Harlan statistics were submitted.
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Harlan fell 25-16, 25-15, 25-16 on Saturday morning in Hazard.
Thomas led the 2-3 Lady Dragons with nine digs, three kills, two blocks and one ace. Owens added six digs and four assists. Marlowe had five kills, three blocks, two aces and one assist. Hoskins had four assists, four digs, two kills, two aces and one block. Farley had two digs, one ace and one assist. Blanton and Campbell Nunez each contributed four digs. Bryson and Hall each had three digs. Jump had two digs, and Ava Nunez added one.
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Harlan suffered a district loss at Bell County on Tuesday, falling 25-20, 25-7, 25-11.
Thomas paced Harlan with six kills, one ace, two digs and one assist. Hoskins added two blocks, one kill and one assist. Owens added two digs, two assists and one ace. Marlowe had two aces, one assist, one block and one kill. Campbell Nunez had one dig and one assist. Blanton added one ace and one assist. Ava Nunez had one kill.