by Rusty Ellis
The Upperman Lady Bees took down Livingston Academy 3-0 in the District 7-2A Semifinals and then defeated Stone Memorial 3-1 to claim the district championship on Tuesday evening.
By virtue of their win over Watertown, Stone Memorial will join Upperman in the region tournament.
Stone Memorial Vs. Watertown
The Lady Panthers opened the evening with a dominant 3-0 sweep over Watertown to clinch their spot in the region tournament.
Amy Gunderson’s kill to give Stone a 6-1 lead early in the first got the Lady Panthers off to a strong start, and even after Watertown tied the set at 11-11, the Lady Panthers quickly answered with a 3-0 run to push the lead back to 14-11. Hailee McDonald’s kill gave Stone a 16-11 lead, and SMHS went on to win the first set 25-14.
They would win the second set by an identical score, as a 15-8 lead proved to be too much for Watertown to come back from. They made it close at 15-13 after a 5-0 run, but Stone then answered with an 8-0 run of their own to put the match out of reach.
The third set saw a back-and-forth start, with neither team able to build any momentum. Kortney Headrick gave the Lady Panthers a 10-8 lead with her kill, and Gunderson added another late to give Stone an 18-15 lead. From there, Stone went on to win 25-19 to clinch their spot in the region tournament.
Upperman Vs. Livingston Academy
The Upperman Lady Bees got off to a fast start and never really slowed down in their 3-0 win over the host Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats.
Kills from Lila Cade and Kailyn Stevens gave the Lady Bees an early 8-2 lead, and Meiah Moss’ kill near the midpoint of the set made it 12-5 Upperman. LA went on a run to cut the lead down to just 13-12, but Upperman went on a quick 4-0 run, capped by a Moss ace. Livingston once again cut deep into the lead and got it down to just two points, but the Lady Bees closed the set with a 25-22 win.
Livingston Academy jumped out to a 7-5 lead early in the second set, but after a Cade back-row kill and a Kaitlyn Foster kill, the score was knotted up at 11-11. Back-to-back aces from Foster gave Upperman a 12-10 lead, and Bailey West capped a 6-1 run with a kill of her own. When all was said and done, it was the Lady Bees who took a 2-0 lead with a 25-14 victory.
And the third set was all UHS as well, as the Lady Bees clinched their spot in the region tournament with a dominant 25-12 win in the third set.
Upperman Vs. Stone Memorial
An exciting match from start-to-finish saw the Lady Bees win the District 7-2A Championship over Stone Memorial, 3-1, to close out Tuesday night.
Back-to-back kills from Lucy Grothe and Amy Gunderson gave Stone Memorial an early 4-3 lead, and another Grothe kill near the midpoint of the set gave the Lady Panthers a 14-8 lead. Upperman battled back and tried to get back into the set, but it was Stone who took a 1-0 lead with their 25-19 win in the first set.
Upperman carried the momentum over from the end of the first set, as a Foster block gave the Lady Bees an early 6-2 advantage and forced a Stone timeout. The Lady Bees continued to dominate the set, taking a 19-10 lead on a Cade kill. Moss ended the set and tied the match up for UHS with her kill, giving the Lady Bees a 25-17 win.
The third set saw the most back-and-forth action of the night, as Hailee McDonald got Stone off to a 4-1 start with her ace. Both teams failed to build any momentum, but another McDonald tied the score at 22-all late. Cade’s kill gave the Lady Bees a 24-23 lead, and Moss ended the set once again to move Upperman within a set of winning the title after the 25-23 victory.
And after another tight start, it was the Lady Bees who seized momentum with a 5-0 run late to take a 16-11 lead, and even after Stone tied the set at 16-all, UHS went on to win the third set, 25-23, to clinch the championship.
“Right now, they’re very excited,” said UHS head coach Barbie Cook. “We started at the bottom this year, and they kind of realized they had to start playing. Some teams turn it on at different points, and when we turned it on, we didn’t want to let down.”
It was a year that got off to a slow start for the Lady Bees, as they struggled to find some answers on the court for a few matches. Once they figured things out however, Cook says she saw the team begin to turn around.
“You can always have something bad, but you can turn it into a positive and that’s what I did,” Cook said. “There were some things that were just beating us up…we changed some things and went with it, and from there, we were just gone.”
Upperman and Stone Memorial will now advance to the region tournament, and Cook knows her team will have to be prepared to keep the season going.
“They know they’ve got talent,” Cook said. “We’ve known that we’ve had it all season, it’s just trying to figure out what works and what chemistry works because if you don’t find it, you lose it.”
