Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

Lady Lions Sweep North Daviess in Straight Sets The Loogootee Varsity Lady Lions delivered a complete team performance Thursday night, defeating the visiting North Daviess Lady Cougars in straight sets, 25-12, 25-22, 25-16, to improve their record to 4-5 on the season. The match opened with a missed North Daviess serve, and Loogootee wasted no time taking control. Junior Alaina Diamond and sophomore Savannah Green each hammered down early kills to give the Lady Lions a 3-0 lead. Green stayed at the service line, sparking a rally that stretched the score to 8-2 and forced a quick Cougar timeout. The Lady Lions kept the pressure on, with junior Jocelynn Sims firing back-to-back aces and junior Aubrey Gilbert setting senior Macy Knepp for a powerful kill to push the lead to 12-4. Freshman Karmen Wilson added a solo block and Gilbert’s steady serving extended the advantage to 19-10. After a brief rotation confusion that gave the Cougars their final point of the set, Loogootee closed it out behind Sims’ serving. A Wilson kill, Sims ace, and North Daviess error sealed the first set, 25-12. The second set proved to be the most competitive of the night. Wilson started strong, delivering a pair of kills to push Loogootee to a 10-6 lead and force a Cougar timeout. Sims’ serving helped extend the lead to 13-6, but a series of Lady Lion errors allowed North Daviess to climb back within two points at 13-11, prompting Coach Haley to call a timeout of her own. The adjustment worked immediately. Freshman Lydia Hawkins delivered a perfect pass to Gilbert, who set it back to Hawkins for a kill, making it 14-11. The momentum continued as Wilson and senior Cora Consley combined for a block, Hawkins served up an ace, and a scrappy defensive rally featuring Hawkins and Sims ended with another Hawkins-to-Consley connection for a kill, pushing the lead to 17-11. North Daviess responded with a furious rally, tying the set at 18-18. A Cougar service error, followed by a Hawkins-to-Green kill, gave the Lady Lions a slim 20-18 lead. The Cougars briefly surged ahead, 21-20, but Loogootee pieced together one final push to close out the set, 25-22, and take a commanding 2-0 match lead. Loogootee came out determined to finish the match quickly. Gilbert opened the third set with a back-row kill, followed by a North Daviess error and a Gilbert ace. Diamond and Green then combined for three consecutive blocks, forcing a Cougar timeout with the Lady Lions up 6-0. North Daviess clawed back to tie the set, but a Gilbert-to-Diamond kill stopped the run cold. Greene followed with an ace and a kill, restoring a 10-6 lead. Knepp and Wilson added key kills, and a Knepp pass to Hawkins, who back-set to Knepp for another strike, helped Loogootee extend its lead to 17-10. The Cougars trimmed the deficit to 17-13 before Green answered with a kill and a block to make it 19-14. Diamond hammered home point 23, Hawkins followed with point 24 on a kill, and Gilbert capped the night with a perfect back-set to Diamond, who crushed the final kill to complete the sweep, 25-16. The Junior Varsity team fell tonight following the Varsity game. 21-25, 25-22, 12-15, they fall to 1-4 following this loss.