Lady Mustangs fall in 5 sets to Valley in district quarterfinals

DODSONVILLE — Dropping the first two sets to the visiting Valley Lady Indians in the Division VI SE District Quarterfinals, LCHS rallied to win the next two sets to force a fifth and final set.

That fifth set saw Lynchburg-Clay hold an eight-point advantage, but ultimately the Lady Indians of Valley (10-9) continued to fight back, having a rally of their own and defeating the host Lady Mustangs 18-16 for the five-set win.

No. 10 seeded Valley won the first two sets by scores of 25-12 and 25-16, while No. 7 seeded Lynchburg-Clay won the third and fourth sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-21.

LCHS led the first set early at 2-1, but once Valley tied the score at 2-2, and later LCHS forced a 3-3 tie, it was all Valley. The Lady Indians held the lead for the remainder of the first set with a 10-point advantage at 17-7, and later the lead was 19-8 and then 22-9. Valley finished the first set scoring the final two points for the 25-12 lead.

Valley nearly led the entire second set, except for a 2-1 LCHS lead, and tied scores at 2-2 and 3-3. After the Lady Indians took a 4-3 lead, they continued to add to their side of the scoreboard by scoring 10 consecutive points for a 12-3 advantage.

LCHS scored some points in the second set, but never was able to catch Valley, with the visiting Lady Indians winning the second set at 25-16.

There were six tied scores in set three from 1-1 to 15-15. After the 15-point tied score, LCHS regained the lead with a tip at the net by sophomore Kylie O’Connor. She then put LCHS ahead by a 16-15 score and later gained a 17-15 lead with a block at the net.

The lead saw Lynchburg-Clay ahead at 22-19 following a block at the net by junior Mattie Magee, and then a 23-19 advantage with a point scored by sophomore Halle Greene.

In the final moments of set three, LCHS held off a rally by Valley with Greene scoring a point, and then LCHS won set three at 25-23.

Set four was very competitive as well with LCHS keeping the match alive as they won the set at 25-21, but the set saw 10 tied scores from 1-1 to 18-18.

After the 18-18 score, it was LCHS gaining the lead as Valley hit the ball out of play, and LCHS never relinquished that lead in the fourth set.

Lynchburg-Clay took a 22-19 lead with a point from Magee at the net, and eventually LCHS won by four points at 25-21.

Then came the fifth and final set, where in the battle to 15 the set went into extra points (teams have to win by a two-point differential in set five). The score was tied at 1-1, then from there it was LCHS building a lead of 10-5, as Valley called a timeout. In that first 10 points scored by Lynchburg-Clay, there were points scored by Greene and sophomore Addy Carraher.

LC’s 11th point came off a point by O’Connor, and then LCHS saw their lead go to 13-10 with Valley continuing to battle with the host Lady Mustangs.

A point scored by Magee put LCHS ahead 14-10 and one point away from the first tournament win by LCHS since 2019.

The win wasn’t in the books for the Lady Mustangs, with Valley rallying to a 14-13 deficit, forcing LCHS to call a timeout.

After the timeout, the score was tied at 14, and then at 15 and 16 points, but an out-of-play hit, followed by LCHS hitting their own side of the net, left LCHS with a tournament loss at 18-16, seeing their season come to a close.

LCHS was led in kills by O’Connor with nine, and the aces leaders were junior Joslyn Rockey and junior Avery Shope with two each. Magee and O’Connor led LCHS with four blocks each, and the digs leader was Rockey with 36. Leading the Lady Mustangs in assists was junior Ava McLaughlin with 12.

As a team, the Lady Mustangs totaled 106 digs, 28 assists, 28 kills, eight blocks and five aces.

Seniors for LCHS are Ava Doughman and Morgan Baker.

LCHS ends their season with an overall record of 16-6, and in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference their final record was 10-3, third place in the conference standings.

Lynchburg-Clay gained eight more wins in 2024 compared to the ’23 season.

Valley will play again on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Wellston High School, where they will face No. 2 seeded Nelsonville-York at 6 p.m.

BOX SCORE
Set 1: 25-12, Valley
Set 2: 25-16. Valley
Set 3: 25-23, Lynchburg-Clay
Set 4: 25-21, Lynchburg-Clay
Set 5: 18-16, Valley.

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