The term “Comeback City” may have always been talking about Independence.
Inside Joe Stark Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday night, the night was full of them. But Cooper’s volleyball team had the biggest comeback of all, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win three straight sets and escape with a 3-2 victory over Simon Kenton, (23-25, 19-25, 25-16, 26-24, 15-9). It was the program’s first win over the Lady Pioneers since 2022.
The momentum shifted at the snap of a finger, and with it, so did the game.
Hall of Fame baseball player and former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once famously said, “Baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.”
The math doesn’t add up. It wasn’t supposed to.
But the sentiment applies well beyond baseball, and it was particularly fitting Tuesday night.
After dropping the first two sets and finding themselves one set away from starting the season 0-2, it would have been easy for the Cooper players to hang their heads. Instead, they found something that head coach Michelle Isaac said she hasn’t always seen.
“In years past, we may not have done that,” Isaac said. “This team … they’ve got something. I really like what we’re building.”
That was after it initially looked like the comebacks belonged to the Lady Pioneers.
Simon Kenton trailed 21-13 in the opening set before ripping off a 12-2 run to steal it, 25-23.
The Lady Pioneers carried that momentum into the second set. They fell behind 4-0 but eventually took their first lead at 9-8 before holding on for a 25-19 win and a 2-0 advantage.
For Simon Kenton head coach Monica Hurd, who was coaching just her second game at the helm of the program, the mental side of the game was a major factor.
“It’s the mindset of nothing drops, and we had that in some part of the game and then lost it in a large portion,” Hurd said. “It just wasn’t that go-getter mentality.”
It is a mentality Hurd wants to see change as the season progresses.
“I want to see people’s mindset shift,” Hurd said. “What I ended the huddle with is, do we have the same vision? We have to have the same vision for what we want out of this season. I hope that shifts after tonight.”
The mental adjustments were only part of the comeback. The physical adjustments mattered, too.
Simon Kenton’s comeback in the first set centered around its serving, with the Lady Pioneers trying to take Cooper’s setter out of the game and disrupt their offensive system.
After the first two sets, Cooper made adjustments of their own.
“We changed up the line a bit, and minds shifted,” Isaac said. “It made them work much harder to try to figure it out and fight for each other. I think they realized, ‘Hey, wait, we’re OK.’”
The Lady Pioneers still claimed the second set, but the Lady Jaguars flipped the script in the third with a 25-16 victory.
The momentum never fully returned to Simon Kenton.
Cooper doesn’t have a large senior core to rely on in moments of adversity, with just one senior on the roster. Instead, a pair of juniors — Isabella Taylor and Gisele Slayback — led the way, accounting for 32 of Cooper’s 53 kills.
Taylor finished with 16 kills, four digs and two blocks. Slayback also had 16 kills, adding a service ace, three digs and five blocks.
Sophomore Julia Thoman led the Lady Jaguars in digs, while junior Karly Barbour paced the team with three service aces. Freshman Lilli Brown led the team in assists.
“We have a few freshmen and sophomores out there,” Isaac said. “They all like playing for each other. One girl knew she was struggling, and she was cheering loud for the next one that went in for her.”
Youth or experience? Tuesday night, it didn’t matter.
Cooper battled through a tight fourth set, winning 26-24 to force a decisive fifth.
Then, the comeback was complete.
The Lady Jaguars pulled away in the fifth set for a 15-9 victory.
Maria Mullis led the Lady Pioneers with 13 kills, while Taylor Jones had a team-high 11 blocks. Allie Ross led Simon Kenton with 27 digs, Faith Lockhart had 12 assists and Lillie Laughlin recorded four service aces.
Next, Cooper (1-1) takes on Newport Central Catholic Tuesday in Union at 7:30 p.m., while Simon Kenton (1-1) travels to Georgetown to face Scott County Thursday at 8 p.m.
MORE PHOTOS: Provided by Charles Bolton
LADY JAGUARS 3, LADY PIONEERS 2
COOPER — 23-19-25-26-15 — 3
SIMON KENTON — 25-25-16-24-9 — 2
Game Stats
Kills: Cooper 53, Simon Kenton 38
Aces: Cooper 6, Simon Kenton 8
Errors: Cooper 59, Simon Kenton 40
Service Errors: Cooper 12, Simon Kenton 6
Assists: Cooper 50, Simon Kenton 37
Digs: Cooper 110, Simon Kenton 96
Records: Cooper 1-1, Simon Kenton 1-1
