Lady Marshals beat Lady Eagles for third straight 4th District title

The Lady Marshals won their third straight district championship in a five-set win over Christian Fellowship.

Marshall County and Christian Fellowship are familiar with playing for a Fourth District championship. In just the last seven years, the neighboring schools have played each other for the title six times, CFS winning four of those years but the Lady Marshals were the two-time defending champions coming into Tuesday’s championship.

Over the last 20 years, they have played each other a total of 63 times and CFS holds a slight 33-30 edge in wins over that time.

The two regular season district games this season have gone to the Lady Eagles 3-2 (25-15, 17-25, 29-27, 20-25, 15-13) and 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-14) giving them the clear momentum heading into Tuesday’s championship game.

CFS beat Murray 3-0 (25-22, 25-6, 25-12) and Marshall County beat Calloway County 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-4) in Monday’s semifinals to advance to the title game.

It was a five-set battle from start to finish in the Lady Marshals 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12) victory.

In set one, the Lady Marshals chipped away at an 11-6 CFS lead behind serves from Finella Buhay and a kill from Sarah Bremmerkamp to take a 12-11 lead. Four kills from Lillian Burnett put CFS back on top 16-15 and they held a slight lead until the game was tied up again at 21-21 before they pulled out the first set 25-23.

The Lady Marshals held a 6-5 lead in set two then scored the next four straight points to lead 10-5. A kill by Cordia Hood stopped the run and the Lady Eagles pulled to within three points at 11-8. The Lady Marshals began to build their lead, getting a couple of kills from Tori Shaw that helped stretch out a 17-11 lead and that momentum closed out the set two win 24-17.

Set three began with five ties until at 8-8, a CFS 8-2 run stretched their lead to 16-10 but a 7-1 run followed by the Lady Marshals to tie the set at 17-17. A CFS kill by Burnett tied the game up at 22, a second straight kill from the senior gave the Lady Eagles a 23-22 lead and they went on to take set three 25-23 and 2-1 lead in the match.

The Lady Marshals built a 17-10 lead in set four, needing the win to tie the match up. The Lady Eagles steadily cut into that lead until trailing 21-20, tied the game on a kill by Gracie Howard. CFS went up 23-22 but it was tied again on a CFS block that sailed out of bounds. With Annie Beard back to serve, the Lady Marshals went up 24-23 but a kill by Hood tied it up again for CFS at 24 each. The Lady Marshals scored the final two points to win set four 26-24 and send the match into the tiebreaker fifth set.

With Beard serving, the Lady Marshals jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in set five but a run by CFS and kill from Jayden Jackson tied it at 3-3. Six ties later, the set was knotted up at 11-11 before a 4-1 run by the Lady Marshals finished out the set and championship win.

Both teams will advance to next week’s First Region Tournament that will be played at Marshall County.

All District Team:
Marshall County: Sarah Bremmerkamp, Tori Shaw, Abby Holland
Christian Fellowship: Lillian Burnett, Gracie Howard
Calloway County: Gracie Friedrich
Murray: Alyssa Daughrity

Marshall County vs Christian Fellowship, 4th District Championship