Lady Marshals fall to McCracken County in 1st Region semi-final game

Sydney Nelson slipped the ball past McCracken blockers Alyssa McKinney (6) and Courtney Griffith (19).
Sydney Nelson slipped the ball past McCracken blockers Alyssa McKinney (6) and Courtney Griffith (19).

DRAFFENVILLE – “They’re the best team in the region”, Head Coach Dan Langhi said following the Lady Marshals 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-9) loss to McCracken County in the 1st Region Tournament semi-final game.

As expected, the Lady Mustangs will meet Ballard Memorial in tonight’s championship game which takes place in the Marshall County Auxiliary Gym at 6:00.
Ballard beat Community Christian Academy 3-0 (25-18, 25-6, 25-8) to advance to the championship game.

The Lady Marshals put up a good battle in game one, staying within 1-2 points of the Lady Mustangs until at 8-6, McCracken began to pull away slightly before putting together a string of eight points that stretched the lead out to 10 points at 23-13 going on to win 25-14.

Trailing 5-4 in game two, the Lady Marshals were the victim of another McCracken streak of eight points to trail 13-4.
Jasmine Bennett, future D1 player for Louisville, and Haylee Rhinehart provided McCracken’s fire power in game two propelling the Lady Mustangs on to a 25-12 win.

Falling behind 11-3 in game three, Lady Marshal Hannah Langhi had a nice block on a Bennett hit but the Lady Mustangs put together a run of four points to take a commanding 15-4 lead.
Another nice block by Langhi and kills by Langhi and Sydney Nelson added three points for the Lady Marshals, now trailing 16-7.
Paige Henson, who led the team in digs, also connected with a good block at the net that sailed out-of-bounds for a Lady Mustang point and 22-9 lead, as McCracken went on to win game three 25-9.

Coach Langhi felt his team was competitive many times throughout the match.
“We’ve come a long way”, Langhi said. “A lot of mistakes we were making on our own.”
Langhi was proud of the way his girls fought saying, “they’ve worked hard and get better every year and have nothing to be ashamed of.”
The Lady Marshals conclude their season as 4th District Champions with a record of 28-11.