Hillsboro Lady Indians stay champions of Spike and Dig Tournament

HILLSBORO — The annual volleyball event between four Highland County schools saw the Hillsboro Lady Indians repeat as champions by winning the 2026 Spike and Dig Tournament on Saturday afternoon. 

Hillsboro defeated the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats and the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs to keep possession of the championship plaque. 

In second place was Lynchburg-Clay with their record being 1-1 in the best-of-three event. Their match win was against the McClain Lady Tigers in the first round. MHS finished third overall with a 1-1 record, winning the third place match over Whiteoak. WHS finished fourth in the event with an 0-2 mark. 

Hillsboro in the opening match of the event held at Hillsboro High School won the first set at 25-14, then followed with a 25-13 second set score to advance to the finals. 

Hillsboro in their match against Whiteoak had sophomore Emmalee Young led the team in kills with nine. Young also collected nine assists and a dig. 

Senior Tylee Davis’ totals included six kills, two assists, and four digs. Senior Marianne Mycroft finished with one kill and one ace. HHS junior Riley Pence ended the contest with two kills and two digs. 

Hillsboro senior Josie Rhoades had totals which included two aces and three digs. Senior Ryan Wagoner ended the match with four kills, four aces, and one dig. 

Senior Scarlett Perkins finished with one kill, 12 assists, three aces, one block and two digs. Senior Paisley Zink had two kills in the Lady Indians’ win over Whiteoak. 

As a team HHS had 25 kills, 23 assists, 10 aces, 13 digs, and one block. 

In the championship match, the Hillsboro Lady Indians defeated the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs in two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-21. 

Davis finished the finals with five kills, one assist, one ace, and 18 digs. Senior Macy Fauber collected three digs for HHS. Mycroft totaled one kill for the Lady Indians. 

Pence finished the match with two kills, and three blocks. Perkins totaled one kill, nine assists, five aces, 11 digs and she also had three blocks. 

Rhoades had totals of three aces and three digs. Wagoner ended the match with nine kills, one ace, five digs. Young had three kills, 11 aces, and eight digs for the Lady Indians in their victory. Zink totaled two digs for HHS. 

Team totals for Hillsboro against Lynchburg-Clay included 21 kills, 21 assists, 10 aces, 50 digs and six blocks. 

The wins improve Hillsboro’s overall record to 4-0 on the season as they previously won a tri-match against Eastern and Blanchester. Thus far this season HHS has swept all four of their matches. 

In the third place match McClain defeated Whiteoak in three sets with MHS winning set one at 25-23, followed with WHS winning the second set at 25-23. The third and final set was won by McClain at 25-18. 

McClain against Whiteoak in the third place match had sophomore Brylee Douglas finish with five kills, two aces and five digs. Junior Brooklyn Bolender collected four kills, two aces and one dig.

MHS also had senior Adalynn Snyder have 10 digs. MHS junior Kambriah Tomlin finished with one kill. Senior Shelby Wise had an ace and 12 digs. Also for McClain, sophomore Brynlee Karnes collected 16 kills, three aces and 14 digs. 

McClain senior Lillian Keller had one kill and two digs. Senior Molly McCune collected one ace, four digs, and 14 assists. Sophomore Allie Havens ended the match with four kills, eight digs and 14 assists. 

Lynchburg-Clay won their first round match against McClain in two sets with scores of 25-16 and 25-9.

Against LCHS, Douglas’ totals were four kills and two digs. Bolender finished with two digs and one assist. Snyder collected four digs. Tomlin ended with two digs and an assist. Wise finished with nine digs. Also for MHS, Karnes totaled four kills and one block.

Keller for the Lady Tigers had two kills. McCune ended the match with one kill, six digs and four assists. Havens recorded one block with two assists. 

Individual stats for Whiteoak and Lynchburg-Clay players will be added to the article when made available.