Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

The Loogootee Lady Lions battled through a night full of momentum swings Thursday at JBA, rallying multiple times to defeat Forest Park in an exciting five-set match, 25-23, 23-25, 27-25, 17-25, 15-13. The victory improved Loogootee to 8-3 on the season. The C-Team opened the night with a one-set loss, 25-13. JV followed with a three-set battle, winning the opener before falling 17-25, 25-16, 15-12. The loss moved the JV Lady Lions to 6-2. With the earlier matches running long, varsity did not take the floor until after 7:30, and the Lady Lions got off to a slow start. Forest Park jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the opening set. Loogootee never produced one huge run, but continued to chip away. A Forest Park mishit cut the deficit to 13-9, but the Lady Rangers stretched their advantage back to 18-11 and later 20-14. The Lady Lions kept battling, and back-to-back aces from junior Savannah Green eventually gave Loogootee its first lead at 23-22. Forest Park tied it at 23, setting up two of the biggest points of the set. Freshman Taryn Brown put down a kill off an assist from senior Jocelynn Sims to give Loogootee set point. On the next rally, Karmen Wilson came up with a huge dig, sophomore setter Lydia Hawkins put the ball up, and senior Alaina Diamond finished it to complete the comeback, 25-23. The second set had a nearly opposite feel. Loogootee held a 19-15 advantage after a block from Wilson and Green, but this time it was Forest Park that rallied late. The Lady Rangers came back to take the set 25-23, evening the match at one set apiece. Forest Park carried that momentum into the third, building leads of 8-3 and 11-5. Once again, Loogootee had to play from behind. Trailing 18-15, Hawkins stepped to the service line and helped completely change the set. Her service rally pushed Loogootee in front 21-18, capped by a Wilson kill off a Hawkins assist. Forest Park responded, eventually tying the set at 24-24, but the Lady Lions prevailed in another pressure-filled finish. Green’s kill off a set from senior Aubrey Gilbert finished off a 27-25 victory and put Loogootee ahead 2-1. The fourth set stayed tight early, with neither team gaining much separation until Forest Park went ahead 11-9. From there, the Lady Rangers took control, extending the lead to 16-9 before winning 25-17 and forcing a decisive fifth set. With the match on the line, Loogootee came out strong. A perfect pass from Sims set up Hawkins for a quick dink that gave the Lady Lions a 6-3 advantage. Forest Park immediately answered with four straight points to take the lead before an error evened the score at seven. The Lady Rangers eventually moved ahead 11-8, but a Hawkins-to-Wilson kill brought the energy back to Loogootee’s side. Forest Park still held a 13-11 lead, leaving the Lady Lions just two points away from defeat. They never got them. A soft Diamond kill off Gilbert’s set started a decisive 4-0 Loogootee run. The Lady Lions completed the comeback behind Lauren Nolan's rally, with an all-senior connection on match point: Sims with the pass, Gilbert with the set, and Diamond with the kill, giving Loogootee a dramatic 15-13 fifth-set victory, right as the clock struck 10:00 PM. Diamond led the offense with 21 kills and added a team-high four blocks. Wilson finished with 11 kills, while Hawkins added eight. Hawkins recorded 23 assists and Gilbert added 17. Green had a huge night from the service line, finishing with 17 service points and six aces, while Hawkins recorded 14 service points and Lauren Nolan added nine. Green also contributed three blocks. Defensively, Sims continued her strong senior season with a team-high 32 digs. Nolan added 16 digs and Gilbert finished with 11. After twice rallying from significant deficits and scoring the final four points of the deciding set, the Lady Lions walked away from JBA with a memorable 3-2 victory and an 8-3 record. From a program note, 216 combined points scored appears to be the 5th highest in program history. The highest was 231 points at JBA in 2022, in a 5-set loss to Jasper.