The amazing spikes to the floor seem to catch the most attention in volleyball.
But for that to happen, things start with the first pass then a nice set. The Cooper Jaguars and Campbell County Camels volleyball teams displayed their solid hitters at Cooper’s gym, including seniors Holland Morris and Rylie Depue for Cooper and juniors Emma Manser and Lexi Scharold along with sophomore Lucy Trapp for Campbell County.
All five had their solid swings in the match. But Cooper (7-2 overall) did a better job executing their offensive rhythm in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-19) win over the Camels (1-3).
“Sometimes they need to slow down a bit. But I was impressed. We made the little adjustments,” said Michelle Isaac, Cooper head coach. “We were very slow and methodical. Then once we started speeding the game up, we started taking more control of the game. But (the Camels) were very aggressive. Defensively, they were making plays and the hitters put the ball down hard making our defense work.”
Both teams dug up 50 balls. Senior libero Chloe Fortner led Cooper with 17 digs with sophomore outside hitter Audrey Schilling digging up 12. Junior defensive specialist/outside hitter Ella Thorwarth led Campbell County with 16.
Cooper finished with 30 assists and 35 kills compared to 25 assists and 26 kills for Campbell County. Morris led the Jaguars with 17 kills and four blocks and Depue had 10 kills. Junior setter Sadie Smith had 28 assists, five aces and three kills for Cooper.
“It’s more about staying out of our heads honestly,” Morris said. “We are very team first and what everyone does is a very good accomplishment. Even that one dig that Chloe has is absolutely amazing even when it’s not and every set Sadie has and every swing that someone takes, we’re just all part of the team and to have that mentality and be able to calm each other down helps.”
Campbell County did slightly better with eight aces and seven blocks compared to seven aces and six blocks for Cooper. Junior setter and right side hitter Ava Crowl had 18 assists, four aces and two blocks to lead the Camels with Manser leading Campbell County with nine kills.
“Having a new head coach with a different set of eyes is going to be different from what they’ve had in the past so we’re adjusting and we’re learning to play in these different places,” said Jessica Ginter, Campbell County head coach. “They’re learning to play for me and the kind of coach that I am. I feel like we have a lot of good raw talent and going forward, we know what we need to work on. I think we will find some good strengths to capitalize on.”
Campbell County started the first game with a 5-1 lead after sophomore A lon McIntyre landed an ace, but Cooper came back to make it a battle. Tied at 21, Cooper ran off four straight points before the Camels scored two in a row with the second point coming on a Crowl ace. But Morris landed a kill to end the first game.
“It’s about playing together, listening to each other and just trusting that our hitters are going to put it down,” Smith said. “We all just so aggressive and they’ll be there for you to hype you up after every point. You just know they’re going to excite you.”
The second game stayed close early. The Camels held a 5-3 lead before a small Cooper run but the Jaguars up 11-7. A Manser ace cut the lead to 14-11 Cooper. But the Jaguars ran off eight straight points to go up 22-11. Depue had two kills during that run and Fortner had an ace. Crowl ended it with a block kill. Cooper senior Ryle Kuehn finished the game with an ace.
Campbell County scored the third game’s first three points when freshman Hope Hamilton and Scharold had kills. But Cooper came back and the teams stayed even for some time before Cooper broke a 9-9 tie with three straight points including two Smith aces to go up 12-9.
“One of the things we work on practice is being mentally tough,” Isaac said. “I’m very tough on them. Mental toughness will win you those close, hard matches. This weekend, we started seeing that defensive scrappiness. They responded to that. They were like ‘Now that we’ve seen that, we’re good.”
Campbell County did trim the lead to 17-16 after a Trapp kill. But Cooper ultimately won after two Campbell County net errors.
“When we’re on, we’re on,” Ginter said. “They do a great job pumping each other up and they get excited. They love when we get a good kill and it’s really a big momentum-shifter for us. We need to continue to do what we can to capitalize on that and be there to have our defense strong and have our setters put their hands on the ball so they can get it to the ones who make the big kills happen.”
Cooper travels to Boone County (3-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Campbell County travels to Scott on Friday to play two games in the annual two-day September Slam Tournament. Campbell County plays Newport Central Catholic (4-4) at 5 p.m. then the Southwestern Warriors (5-1) from the Pulaski County school district in Somerset at 7 p.m.
Dixie Heights 2, Bishop Brossart 0
The Colonels (3-3) won their third straight with consecutive 25-23 wins over the Lady ‘Stangs (6-2) in Alexandria.
“I’m really excited for us. I knew going into that game that Brossart is a good team,” said Julie Kelly, Dixie Heights head coach. “They’re a well-coached team and I knew they had some star players. I told the girls going into the match not to write them off. I think sometimes when you go to play two out of three, you wonder why you’re playing two out of three instead of three out of five. But I knew it would be two, maybe three tough games. As I told (Brossart Head Coach) Bree (Velasquez) afterwards, I’m glad this didn’t go three out of five because it was two games that were hard-fought. But I’m excited for our future.”
Dixie Heights had 24 kills, nine aces and 23 assists. Seniors Maia Long and Maggie Best had 11 kills each. Junior Celia Wallace had three aces.
“My teammates do set me up. I couldn’t do it without a good set that’s off and in,” Long said. “It was a big step bringing some younger girls up this year. But they’re doing an amazing job.”
Bishop Brossart had 18 kills, eight blocks, 14 assists, 21 digs and three aces. Sophomore middle blocker Corrine Blackburn had six kills and four blocks with junior outside hitter Kayla Hesse tallying six kills. Senior setter Savannah Seiter had 12 assists and junior libero Maddie Kremer had seven digs. Sophomore outside hitter Kate Neltner had three kills, six digs and two aces.
Bishop Brossart takes on Holy Cross (4-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Dixie Heights plays host to Highlands (2-2) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Other Volleyball Scores:
Williamstown 2 (25-7, 25-10), Bellevue 0
Villa Madonna 2 (25-4, 25-12), Calvary Christian 0
Beechwood 2 (25-4, 25-12), Holmes 0
Holy Cross 2 (25-13, 25-12), Ludlow 0
Newport Central Catholic 2 (25-13, 25-12), Newport 0
Ryle 3 (25-8, 25-14, 25-14), Boone County 0
Walton-Verona 2 (25-8, 25-9), Covington Latin 0
Boys soccer
Walton-Verona 4, Simon Kenton 3
The Bearcats (4-3-3 overall) picked up a huge 32nd District win at home over the Simon Pioneers (5-4) snapping Simon Kenton’s four-game winning streak.
“We talked about that before the game,” Walton-Verona Head Coach Jeremy Riggs said of Simon Kenton. “They’ve beaten Ryle. They beat other schools that they shouldn’t have beat. That was the thing we were worried about. If it’s not skill, then it has to be teamwork. It’s hard to defend teamwork when put together that well. They’re a good team. Then to come out (with a win) shows how hard our guys are working this year.”
In the process, Walton-Verona finished 1-1 in district seed play and the Pioneers are 0-1 with a game at Grant County on Sept. 6. Walton-Verona ended a 12-game losing streak to Simon Kenton dating back to a 3-2 shootout win Aug. 18, 2012. This marked just the second time Walton-Verona had beaten Simon Kenton since the two became district opponents in 2012.
Senior Arif Ceylan scored all four goals for Walton-Verona bringing his tally to 12 on the season. Senior Mateo Mains, junior Sam Kunkle and junior Tyler Wolfe had assists and Kunkle had 10 saves.
“To all those teams out there that have never heard of us or underestimate us, we’re coming,” said Landon Rodgers, Walton-Verona senior defender. “Defense doesn’t get to put up a lot of stats. That’s not something to overlook. Defense is honestly as important as offense. A team can’t function without its defense. All of our defenders at Walton are top class. We’ve communicated better as the years have gone on.”
Junior forward Dominick Dornbusch scored twice for Simon Kenton and junior midfielder Draven Dean scored the other goal. Senior forwards Ayden Theobald and CJ Neidenbach had the assists. Freshman goalkeeper Miles Mullen had two saves for the Pioneers.
Walton-Verona travels to Holmes (1-6) on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game. Simon Kenton travels to Dixie Heights (6-1) for an 8 p.m. game the same day.
Cooper 3, Highlands 3
The Bluebirds (2-3-2) and Jaguars (3-0-3) tied at Tower Park in Fort Thomas in a 9th Region battle.
Senior forward Adam Morris scored twice and senior forward Maison Canfield had the other goal for Cooper. Canfield and senior forward Alex Morris had assists.
Senior forward Colin Pieper had two goals with junior midfielder Chad Gesenhues scoring the other goal. Seniors Casey Stiles and Caden Schroeder had assists with senior goalkeeper Connor Mathis recording six saves.
Cooper plays host to Boone County (2-5) on Thursday at 8 p.m. Highlands plays host to Kentucky Country Day (4-1-1) at 6 p.m.
Dixie Heights 4, Campbell County 0
The Colonels (6-1) recorded their fifth shutout of the year blanking the Camels (3-4-1) in Alexandria.
Senior Bennett Gerak led Dixie Heights with one goal and three assists. Seniors Ryder Kennedy, Reed Brixey and sophomore Aiden Sanders had the other goals with senior Adam Kreutzkamp adding an assist. Senior goalkeeper Braden Blackburn had one save.
Dixie Heights plays host to Simon Kenton (5-4) on Thursday at 8 p.m. Campbell County plays host to Grant County (5-0-1) on the same day at 7:30 p.m.
Ryle 4, St. Henry 1
The Raiders (3-2-2) downed the host Crusaders (2-5) outshooting them, 21-7. Junior goalkeeper Landon Barth had three saves for the Raiders.
Freshman striker Brice Denigan led Ryle with two goals and an assist. Junior midfielder Diego Hoenderkamp had one goal and two assists with freshman Marcos Hoenderkamp scoring the other goal.
Freshman Thomas Toss scored the Crusader goal and senior Kyle Ziegelmeyer had the assist.
Ryle travels to Campbell County (3-4-1) on Sept. 8 for a 7:30 p.m. game. St. Henry plays at Covington Catholic (3-5) on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game.
Other Boys Soccer Scores:
Bishop Brossart 1, Holy Cross 0
Beechwood 5, Calvary Christian 0
Dayton (Ohio) Carroll 4, Covington Catholic 2
Conner 1, Lawrenceburg (Indiana) 0
Newport Central Catholic 8, Boone County 1
Pendleton County 4, Holmes 3
George Rogers Clark 3, Scott 1
