Livingston Volleyball Takes Down Jackson County During In-School Game, 3-1

By Michael Lindsay

The Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats won their first volleyball game of the season Wednesday afternoon as they picked up a victory at Jackson County, 3-1.

“This is game #3 for us,” said Livingston head coach Christie Jenkins. “I feel like we’re struggling a little bit on passing, but we’re getting there. We needed to get a win, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Livingston won the first two sets by 25-19 and 25-20 margins before Jackson County battled back to win the third, 25-23. Livingston overcame a 24-19 deficit late in the fourth set to win 26-24 and win the match 3-1.

“Kora Copeland hit really well today,” said Jenkins. ” Chloe (Jenkins) also did well in the middle. It was a group effort today. We finally started passing better, and we stepped up and got it done.”

Jackson County jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the first set before Livingston battled back to take a 9-8 advantage. The Lady Wildcats extended their advantage to 7 points (19-12) before finishing off the first-set victory, 25-19.

Livingston took control of the second set 12-5 before Jackson County battled back to tie the set at 20 points each. Livingston withstood the storm and rallied to score the set’s last 5 points to win 25-20 and take a 2-0 advantage.

The Lady Wildcats looked poised to sweep the series as they opened the third set on a 7-0 run. Jackson County didn’t go away quietly as they answered with an 11-4 run to tie the set at 11-11 via a Jules Looper kill.

Jackson County took a 12-11 advantage on the next serve via a Livingston error. The teams traded leads through the rest of the third set before an Eva Wilson ace secured the 25-23 win for the Lady Devils.

After a back-and-forth start to the fourth set, Jackson County pushed out to a 24-19 lead via a Lillianne Wilson kill. Livingston responded from there as the Lady Wildcats reeled off 7 consecutive points capped off by a Kora Copeland kill to take the 26-24 fourth-set victory and win the match 3-1.

The Lady Wildcats improve to 1-2 overall and open District 7-2A play on Thursday at home against Watertown while Jackson County is scheduled to play at Red Boiling Springs.

“We’re trying to get as many games in as we can because we’ll be gone next week for a volleyball tournament in Hawaii,” said Jenkins. “We want to get as many games in as we can before we leave.”