It was a battle of cats in Baker and the Class A No. 5 East Hardy Cougars volleyball team prevailed in a five-set thriller, knocking off Class AAAA No. 17 Jefferson, 19-25, 25-13, 25-16, 21-25 and 17-15.
Hearts were beating fast as these Cougars clawed it out on the court.
Jefferson opened the fifth set with a block by Avery Riehle.
East Hardy responded with a denial by Madison Kerr.
Jefferson grabbed a 4-1 lead as Riehle and Kylie Cline notched kills and Lily Wilson had a serve returned into the net.
Kerr executed a dink, then Xavia Barber’s serve was just narrowly corralled at the bench.
Isabella Jacot smashed the ball for the JHS Cougars and Riehle served an ace for a 7-3 lead prior to a servicing error.
East Hardy’s Savannah Pullen created a service point to make it 7-5.
After a kill by Jefferson’s Presley Moulton, the EHHS Cougars answered with an attack point by Amelia Garrett.
There was a great series back and forth with amazing saves by Harper Kline, Savannah Pullen and Xavia Barber.
Garrett slammed the ball to the floor as the EHHS Cougars closed the gap to 9-7.
Several East Hardy errors helped the JHS Cougars take a 12-8 lead.
The EHHS Cougars refused to back down and clawed back with two consecutive blocks by Kerr.
Charlee Hahn served an ace and another block from Kerr tied the fifth set for East Hardy.
Riehle’s block and Ashlynn Hickey’s spike put Jefferson back ahead 14-12.
The EHHS Cougars rallied to tie the set as an attack by Kerr ricocheted out and Barber served an ace.
Jefferson regained the lead on a kill from Moulton.
East Hardy kept battling as a volley from Kerr was returned into the net, then Garrett spiked the ball.
A wild shot out of bounds by Jefferson gave the EHHS Cougars the upset victory, 3-2 and 17-15.
East Hardy had found great rhythm in the second and third sets with a steady rotation of attacks by Madison Kerr, Amelia Garrett and Hannah Riggle.
The service line was handled well by Danica Wolfe, Xavia Barber and Georgia Hahn.
The EHHS Cougars proved being small with a huge heart and survive adversity and bigger challenges.
“That’s fun volleyball, back and forth. It wasn’t sloppy and we were trading big time swings. Jefferson came ready to play and attacking us, but I thought we responded well just about every time. It was a chess match out there. Tonight was the reason we schedule these big games. For us, if you look at the schedule, we have played a lot of powerhouses and got our bell rung. To come out and get this kind of win is really good going into tournament play. Our serve-receive was really bad in the beginning. We settled in and got into a groove in the middle and found that rhythm we needed to win,” East Hardy assistant coach Chris Hahn commented.
