James Collier
Ashland Beacon
Boyd County barely broke a sweat in the 16th Region Volleyball Tournament as the Lions cruised to back-to-back region crowns after defeating Raceland 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-12) in the championship. Boyd County continued its region dominance with straight set wins over Lewis County (25-6, 25-13, 25-11) and Fleming County (25-6, 25-6, 25-12) before advancing to the title game against the Lady Rams.
Taylor Bartrum led the Lions in the championship game with 13 kills. Emma Sparks added eight. Carly Mullins had six. Boyd County had 10 aces in the win with Carleigh Conley, Bartrum and Sparks each having three. Elizabeth Rigsby led the Rams with seven kills.
Bartrum paced the Lions in the win over Fleming County with 15 kills. Sparks fired down nine. Sophia Gifford delivered six aces. Bartrum and Sparks led Boyd County in the win over Lewis County with 13 and nine kills, respectively. Sparks served six aces while Boyd County had 14 as a team.
Raceland and Ashland battled in the only match to play to five sets in the semifinals. Raceland grabbed a 2-0 lead in the match only to watch Ashland storm back to steal set three followed by a dominating set four win to force a deciding fifth set. Ashland led the final stanza, 13-10 after a Sophie Suman kill but the Rams stormed back with Rigsby’s 18th kill of the night going down for the game winner. Gracie Reed, Kody Haddix and Shaelee Holbrook added seven kills. Khia Robinson led the Volleycats with a tournament best 28 kills. Suman had 19. Raceland’s win over Ashland was the first for the Rams in six years.
Raceland rolled through West Carter (25-13, 25-12, 25-20) in straight sets led by nine kills from Holbrook. Skyler Brown-Morris had seven. Rigsby added six.
Ashland defeated Rowan County (25-14, 25-14, 25-14) in its opening round match. Robinson led the Volleycats with 10 kills and five aces. Emma Slone put down six.
Boyd County recorded a program-record 35th win in the Lions defeat of Fleming County. Boyd County will play host to 10th Region champion Bishop Brossart Monday night in the Semi-State round.
Raceland closed its season 27-11. Ashland’s season ended with a mark of 30-9.