DRAFFENVILLE – A Marshall County and Christian Fellowship volleyball game is always going to be competitive and fun to watch and Tuesday nights 4th District Championship game was no different. The two squads battled through four games with the Lady Marshals coming out on top 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-14, 25-15) to win the tournament.
Coach Dan Langhi was happy with the way his team played except for some mental mistakes and service errors in the second game. Langhi said they remember the loss to CFS in last year’s championship game and he was happy for his seniors to be able to get this win going on to say, “I think they are just now realizing they just played their last game on this court.”
CFS led set one behind kills from Abigail Cima and good defensive play until the Lady Marshals tied the game 14-14 on a nice kill by Hannah Langhi, then took the lead for the first time in the match. A couple of kills by Langhi and service ace by Paige Henson gave the Lady Marshals a 19-15 lead, going on to finish out the first set 25-18 on another Langhi kill.
Marshall County got out to a good start in the second set holding the lead through the first half, getting a kill from Ragan Harris then nice block from Harris on Cima to go up 8-5. They kept the lead through 14-12 when CFS gained momentum on two great recovery plays and a kill by Cima to cut the Marshall lead to one, going on to tie and go up by one on a service ace by Karlee Phillips. The two teams would tie it up six more times from that point on with the Lady Eagles finishing the game up for the win 25-14 on a kill by Emma Alexander.
Kirsten Walker served the first five points for the Lady Marshals in the third set for a 5-0 lead before the Lady Eagles rallied to tie the game 5-5. CFS went on to take a 10-7 lead before Alexis Hines served on the next 10 Lady Marshal points for a 17-10 lead, a series highlighted by heads-up play by Henson at the net and two nice blocks by Langhi. Henson served on the next five points to put the Lady Marshals up 23-11 getting the 25-14 win on a block by Harris to go up 2-1.
Set four was again a nice back and forth with many long volleys that included great hits and kills by Langhi, Hines and Cima. The Lady Marshals were able to stretch a lead out to 14-8, getting kills by Langhi down the stretch and an ace by Henson on their way to a 24-15 set win and 3-1 match win for the tournament championship.
Langhi had 33 kills in the win, Hines had 6 and Harris 5 while Cima led CFS with 13 hits, 7 of which were kills. Emma Alexander led CFS in digs and the Lady Marshals were led by Langhi. Henson had 33 assists and CFS was led by Karlee Phillips with 19.
Both teams will advance to next weeks 1st Region Tournament at McCracken County High School.
2016 4th District All-Tournament Team
Hannah Langhi, Marshall County
Abigail Cima, Christian Fellowship
Sophie Galloway, Murray
Lexie Lamb, Calloway County
Paige Henson, Marshall County
Karlee Phillips, Christian Fellowship
McKenzie Mason, Murray
Jacie Spann, Calloway County
Alexis Hines, Marshall County
Emma Alexander, Christian Fellowship
Ragan Harris, Marshall County
