Milyn Minor’s 26th kill of the night sent Scott into the KHSAA state volleyball quarterfinals in a thrilling, five-set victory over West Jessamine, 3-2 (25-16, 14-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12).
What followed after Minor’s kill on Monday night in Taylor Mill showed it was a complete effort for the hosts. The team doggy piled near center court with a court storming from the student section moments later.
Monday’s electricity in the building was higher than a heat bill in February.
“Every single one of us had a factor, no matter if you’re on the bench or if you’re playing in the game or if you’re in the stands, we all had a factor in this game, and it just was great with each other,” Minor said.
Minor’s and the Eagles night has been in the making for nearly 10 years now.
“She’s been coming to our camp since the second grade,” Eagles coach Andrea Sullivan said. “I feel like I’ve known her forever and she’s really fun to watch. She’s the hardest worker in the gym day in and day out. She leads in practice, she’s a coaches dream.”
While Minor’s night certainly stood out, others rose to the occasion at a crucial point in the contest. Down two sets to one and trailing 13-7 in the fourth set, Scott (30-11) junior Morgan Justice answered the bell, delivering four of her nine kills to ignite a 12-2 Eagles run for a 19-15 lead.
“I wasn’t playing my best in the second set and I needed to get mentally right and figure things out,” Justice said.
At 21-21 and needing to get this one to a deceider, Payton Grigsby’s service game helped the Eagles to a 24-21 edge with back-to-back aces. A Minor kill sent it to the fifth set.
Riding the momentum, Scott got to serve first in the fifth, rattling off four straight points for a 4-0 lead.
“Getting the first serve got the girls already kind of energized,” Sullivan said. “Being able to step out with the lead was a confidence booster. We talked about shots that were available and we were able to take note of some of their weaker defenders.”
PHOTO SLIDESHOW: More images of Scott-West Jessamine, provided by Charles Bolton:
Scott tallied seven kills in the winner-take-all fifth set. The Colts (24-17) made things tight as they closed to within one on four separate occasions, the last at 13-12, but a Brooklyn Helm kill followed by Minor’s finishing touch put an end to this tightly contested battle.
It’s Scott’s first state tournament win since 2014, when they made the state semifinals. They had come up empty in prior trips in 2020, 2017, 2016 and 2015. The 2020 loss was to West Jessamine.
“We had a couple of the girls that were involved in that 2020 match against them, driving down to West Jessamine,” Sullivan said. “I know how that feels playing the first round at another person’s court where it’s not a neutral site. Hats off to them for playing so hard. And then our atmosphere, it was awesome. We had people from all over, Taylor mill, a lot of Scott alumni here supporting girls that they don’t even know, but just supporting our program.”
Minor, a junior and senior Elise Manhardt were a part of the 2020 team. Manhardt finished with 23 digs on Monday night to help get the offense going to the tune of 54 kills, Ryann Grigsby with 46 assists. After Minor’s 26 and Justice’s nine kills, Payton Grigsby added eight kills.
Scott took the opening set with relative ease, thanks to a 13-4 run that put them up 18-9. They led by as much as 12 in the set as they tallied 12 kills and two aces. Minor collected six kills in the set, Helm with three kills and a block.
West Jessamine responded to take the next two sets, the big response coming in the second set as they opened the lead to 17-8 and didn’t look back. The Colts, a 2023 semifinalist, looked in complete control after taking the third set and building a 13-7 lead in the fourth.
Scott’s “redemption season” has them to where they’ve wanted to be all season, at George Rogers Clark as one of the final eight teams standing.
“Not only do we want to go to state, but we want to play at GRC, which is what we’re going to do,” Minor said. “We’ve been wanting to play at GRC the whole entire season. All of us keep saying redemption season because of our last two (seasons), that we’ve lost in the (region) finals so we came out here, we proved to them and we finished it.”
Redemption continues, shaking off two straight region final losses, the last year by two points in a fifth set.
“Last year losing in the region like we did and being able to win our district and region this year, the state tournament is something special and it’s something special to be with all the other teams at the state tournament,” Sullivan said. “I’m really excited to get down to GRC and see what we can do.”
They’ll face Paintsville in Friday’s quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Paintsville is coached by 2000 Campbell County grad Dawn Kinner.