Peaking at the right time is what every coach wants to see.
Scott’s volleyball team did that as they won 14 straight games all the way to the KHSAA state volleyball tournament semifinals, but their run came to an end at the hands of Mercy, 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-16) on Saturday at George Rogers Clark.
The Jaguars power and precision from the front line was too much in this one as they racked up 49 kills to Scott’s 22 in the straight set victory.
“They just had a lot more bigger and stronger weapons than we did,” Eagles coach Andrea Sullivan said. “We had too many unforced errors too, I felt like.”
Scott (31-12) struggled with the Jaguars (28-14) pace in the first set as Mercy jumped on them with a 10-3 lead. The Eagles were able to get within six on a couple of separate occasions from there, but Mercy ended the set on a 12-3 run.
“It’s hard when you don’t see a team in the season,” Sullivan said. “We watch film, but volleyball when it’s live is a lot different than film and it took us a little bit to adjust.”
Scott adjusted in the second half and made it much more competitive. No one led by more than three until Mercy rattled off a 5-2 run for a 24-19 lead, but Scott put up a rally of their own with four straight points behind a Milyn Minor kill, two Mercy errors and a Elise Manhardt ace.
“We never laid down. Really proud of girls effort and our grit throughout this tournament,” Sullivan said.
At 24-23, the Eagles had a chance to tie it up, but a dig on a tip kill attempt was later put away on a Maia Marin kill to give the Jaguars the second set.
Mercy jumped up 10-4 in the third set, Scott unable to recover from there as they made their first trip to the state semifinals since 2014.
“It was kind of like an airplane ride,” Sullivan said. “You never have an airplane ride where it’s smooth in the beginning, smooth in the middle and smooth at the end. You have some turbulance, you deal with it and that’s the things I’m most proud of is how we dealt with the tough times. Those are lessons you learn in life is stuff you can take on and fight through when life is hard. That’s why we coach is for moments like this. The wins are awesome, but when you see girls finally get it and understand what a team is really about and playing for someone else.”
The future is still bright in Taylor Mill as they return four of the seven that played in Saturday’s semifinal, led by back-to-back 10th Region Player of the Year Milyn Minor.
“We want our underclassmen to continue to work for this. They now know what it takes to get here and the goal now is to do this back-to-back,” Sullivan said.
PHOTOS: Scott-Mercy slideshow, provided by Charles Bolton
They will lose five seniors, highlighted by Brooklyn Helm’s and Elise Manhardt’s departure. Both were named to the All-Tournament team after the conclusion of the game. Helm led the team with nine kills in the semifinal.
“I just worked my hardest knowing this would be the last day of my high school volleyball career,” Helm said. “We really worked together, this was easily my best season ever playing in Scott.”
Manhardt exits as the program’s all-time digs and aces leader.
Mercy awaits the Assumption-Notre Dame winner in Saturday’s second semifinal set for 1:30 p.m.