The Marshall County Lady Marshals volleyball team are the 2023 4th District champions, winning their fourth consecutive title on Tuesday in a 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-15) win over Calloway County.
In set one, Calloway County took advantage of a slightly off Lady Marshals team and took a 12-8 lead on a kill from Cambrey Driscoll. Trailing 16-9, Head Coach Paige Perego called a time out to talk things over with the Lady Marshals. Out of the time out, Sarah Bremmerkamp picked up a kill to cut it to six points but the Lady Lakers finished out the first set with the help of three straight kills by Driscoll to win 25-16.
After a few mistakes early in the second set, the Lady Marshals settled in and took a 10-9 lead on a kill by Leigha McVickers. They held the lead and went up 15-11 on a tip that found open floor by Abby Belcher and kill from Bremmerkamp. At 23-19, Bremmerkamp earned the last two set points on a kill and serve that tipped the net and hit the Calloway County floor to tie the match at one set each.
Marshall County trailed in the third set until taking their first lead at 13-12. An injury to Bremmerkamp sent her to the bench for the remainder of the set while the Lady Marshals rallied to pull out the set by two at 25-23 and take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Riding the momentum of the previous two sets, the Lady Marshals took a 7-6 lead in set four and never looked back, taking the set 25-15 and match 3-1. The fourth set was highlighted by aces from Hadley Barrett and Bremmerkamp, a kill by Olivia Hawkins and several great defensive plays including one save nearly in the stands.
“The lineup was a little off then we got it going the second set and ever since then we just kind of took off with it, especially with Sarah going out in that set, and we came back and won which just fueled the fire for us”, said Coach Perego.
Bremmerkamp finished the night with 18 kills and when asked about winning a district title each of her four years on the team said, “It’s really important because I feel like I’ve been working really hard this season, especially with these new girls because there’s a lot of younger girls and I’m just so glad to be a leader on the team and finish out this district title with them.”
“I’m extremely proud, extremely happy”, said Perego. “We had a hard loss against CCA. We had our best volleyball game that first set and then we just laid down so we’ve been working really hard in practice and proved it right here.”
Both teams will advance to next week’s Region 1 Tournament at McCracken County High School.
All-District Team:
Marshall County: Sarah Bremmerkamp, Abby Belcher, Leigha McVickers, Ayla Holt
Calloway County: Kayden Patrick, Lydia Bell, Emma English
Christian Fellowship: Gracie Howard, Lilian Griggs
Murray: Macy Chiles, Ashley Vonnahme
Marshall County vs. Calloway County, 4th District Championship 10-17-23
