Lady Mustangs drop match to Ripley
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE - Mental miscues hurt the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs Tuesday at their home court. The Ripley Lady Blue Jays took advantage of those miscues, along with some smooth serving as they defeated the Lady Mustangs in four sets for the Southern Hills League win.
Ripley won the first set by a score of 25-8, followed by winning sets three and four by scores of 25-17 and 25-21, respectively.
LC won the second set, 25-23 as they have struggled as of late after starting the season with four wins and are now 4-4 on the season.
"Mental mistakes … we made too many mental mistakes," LC coach Erin Walters said. "We have a lot of talent, but we definitely didn't play as a team (Tuesday)."
Earlier in the season, LC defeated the Lady Blue Jays in three sets at the home of RHS, but on Tuesday, Ripley came out on fire, especially due to the first set serving of senior Eliese Kendrick, who at one point served seven straight aces and put Ripley ahead of LC, 23-7. In along with all of Kendrick's aces, RHS scored 10 straight points.
Ripley jumped out to the big lead with points by sophomore Kody Gilkerson, senior Kelsey Carpenter and senior Tiffany Hines. The final two points of the first set were scored by Carpenter and sophomore Olivia Kendrick.
In the first set LC got to within five points of tying early with back-to-back points by senior Magan Stegbauer at 10-5, but that's when Ripley took charge and won the set by 17 points.
The bright spot for the Lady Mustangs was set two as they were victorious, 25-23, but it didn't come without pressure from Ripley.
Set two was tied seven times, as far in the match as 23-23.
RHS jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but LC took a 5-4 with some serves by Stegbauer.
The score was then tied again at 5-5, 8-8 and 10-10 with LC tying the game with a hit at the front of the net by Daisy Christophel.
The Lady Blue Jays regained a 15-10 lead with more aces from Eliese Kendrick.
Unofficially, Kendrick finished with 14 aces in four sets.
LC came within two points at 15-12 with consecutive points from Claire Magie.
LC senior Hannah Blankenship helped tie the score at 22 with her serving, and after the score was tied at 23, the final point of the match and LC's lone set victory came with an ace by Courtney Tenas.
The final two sets went to the Lady Blue Jays, but not without each team forcing each other to break numerous ties. Set three was tied six times, with RHS coming out on top at 25-17.
Stegbauer and freshman Sawyer Rammel helped put LC up 7-3 with an ace by the senior and with two tips at the net by Rammel. Rammel, who came off the bench in the third set, scored four times in the set.
"Sawyer had a great game for us," Walters said. "She came in off the bench and did well."
Later in the third set, it was tied at 16, and Ripley went on a tear by scoring nine of the next 10 points to take a two-set advantage. The last point scored by LC in the set was a hit by Blankenship. Kendrick ended the third set by gaining five aces in the final nine RHS points scored.
Set four mirrored set three in some ways as each team battled by scoring a high total of points, with RHS winning the set 25-21.
Ripley took a 9-7 lead in the early stages of the set with an ace from Hines, but LC rallied before the two-point lead to tie the fourth set at 6-6 and 7-7.
Stegbauer brought LC within five points at 18-13 with a hard spike to the Ripley side of the court. Christophel made the score 22-17, bringing LC within five points, once again, with a point scored. The final point for the match win came off a serve by Carpenter as the ball flew off a LC player on the serve.
LC falls to 4-4 overall with the loss.
The Lady Mustangs are scheduled to host Highland County counterpart McClain Wednesday night.
In JV play, Ripley won in two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-21.
MATCH SCORES
Set 1: 25-8, RHS
Set 2: 25-23, LC
Set 3: 25-17, RHS
Set 4: 25-21, RHS
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