Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

The Loogootee Lady Lions continued a busy week of conference play with a 3-0 victory over the North Knox Lady Warriors, overcoming a tight opening set before taking complete control in the final two. Loogootee won 25-23, 25-9, 25-4 to improve to 11-5 on the season. North Knox errors helped Loogootee build an early advantage in the first set before the Lady Lions' offense got involved. A Jocelynn Sims pass to Aubrey Gilbert, followed by an Alaina Diamond kill, made it 4-1. After a North Knox kill, junior Lauren Nolan came up with a great dig to Gilbert, who found Lydia Hawkins for a well-placed push into the corner. Gilbert followed with an assist to Savannah Green to make it 6-2. Hawkins then contributed on consecutive points with a kill and an ace, extending the lead to 8-3. North Knox answered with two points, but Loogootee responded when Hawkins set Green for a kill and Green followed with an ace, making it 10-5. The middle of the set got sloppy for the Lady Lions, allowing North Knox to close the gap to 11-10. Hawkins stopped the run with a well-placed push, and she then teamed with Diamond for a block as Loogootee rebuilt its advantage to 14-11. Kills from Green and Karmen Wilson made it 16-12, and Wilson later added an ace to give Loogootee a 20-15 lead. A Diamond kill off a Gilbert assist eventually brought up set point at 24-18, but the Lady Warriors refused to go quietly. North Knox fought off several set points and closed all the way to 24-23. With the Lady Warriors threatening to tie it, Sims kept a rally alive and Hawkins finished it with a soft kill, finally putting away the opening set 25-23. The close call seemed to wake up the Lady Lions. Diamond opened the second set with a big kill from Gilbert, and Loogootee quickly began piling up points. Kills from Diamond, Green, Hawkins and Green again helped build a 6-2 lead. Behind Sims at the service line, the Lady Lions extended the advantage to 8-2, with the senior libero adding an ace during the run. Then the floodgates opened. Three consecutive Loogootee kills—two from Green and one from Wilson—started a long Hawkins service rally. Hawkins followed with consecutive aces and eventually served seven straight points, helping push the Lady Lion lead to 15-4. Loogootee never looked back. A Diamond-Madison Davis block followed by a kill from freshman Taryn Brown made it 20-7. Diamond added another kill before Nolan delivered consecutive aces, and Wilson eventually slammed home the final point for a dominant 25-9 victory. The Lady Lions carried that momentum directly into the third. Big swings from Diamond, Hawkins and Brown quickly made it 3-0, and Nolan later took over at the service line with a six-point rally, including two aces. Sims followed with an even bigger run, serving seven consecutive points and recording three aces. Green put down three kills during the stretch as the Lady Lions blew the set open to 21-2. There would be no North Knox comeback this time. Brown delivered the final kill of the night, closing out a commanding 25-4 third set and the 3-0 conference sweep. Green led a balanced Loogootee attack with 11 kills, followed by Diamond with eight and Hawkins with seven. Gilbert handed out a team-high 23 assists, while Hawkins added eight. Sims and Nolan each finished with 13 service points. Nolan led the Lady Lions with five aces, while Sims added four. Defensively, Sims recorded a team-high 17 digs, Nolan added 10 and Hawkins finished with seven. The victory moves the Lady Lions to 11-5 as they continue a stretch of three conference matches in one week. JV Falls in Three-Set Battle The JV Lady Lions nearly completed a three-set victory of their own after dominating the opening set, but North Knox rallied to win 7-25, 25-18, 19-17 from the North Knox perspective. Loogootee opened with an impressive 25-7 first-set victory before North Knox answered 25-18 in the second. The deciding set went beyond 15, with the Lady Warriors eventually edging Loogootee 19-17. Fara Fisher had a strong all-around match, leading the Lady Lions with 10 service points, five aces, 19 digs and 10 assists. Kensleigh Carrico added 18 digs and led the attack with 10 kills. Addison Moore finished with five kills and eight assists, while Hailey Thomas and Carrico each added five service points.