For the past few years, the Lady Marshals volleyball team plays Ballard Memorial in one of their early-season, if not first, match of the season. An early test right out of the gate against a Lady Bombers team that Adam Solomon, in his 14th season, always has ready to play. After taking over the program in 2007, it took Solomon a couple seasons to turn things around and has since had 11 of 12 winning seasons.
Following a 3-0 (23-21, 21-19, 21-19) JV Lady Marshals win, the Varsity took the floor and won the first set 25-20, then dropped the next three 18-25, 14-25 and 19-25 to fall to the Lady Bombers 3-1. It was Ballard’s second win of the 2020 season after a 3-0 win over Mayfield on Tuesday.
Junior Halle Langhi and senior Clara Bradley combined for 34 kills, Langhi leading the way with 21. Both played well defensively with Langhi picking up 22 digs and Bradley 17. Alyssa McClain recorded four kills, Bailey Pritchett had 15 digs and Peyton Gresham led in assists with 36.
“We struggled a bit with players in new positions”, second year Head Coach Laura Kinder said. “We were able to make adjustments, but the ball didn’t fall to our advantage. We just need to work out some kinks.”
Kinder said the team is thrilled to get to play and has high hopes for the season. Last year’s Lady Marshals squad finished district tournament runner-up with a record of 20-16.
“We have a packed schedule, so we will have plenty of opportunities to improve”, Kinder said. “Halle hit phenomenally and Bailey and Clara did a fantastic job on defense. Our girls showed great leadership and that is going to have a huge impact this season.”
Up next, the Lady Marshals will travel to Webster County for a Saturday morning game at 11:00 a.m. followed by their first district contest at Calloway County on Tuesday.