Boyle rolls to third straight district volleyball title
Published 5:30 pm Monday, October 28, 2024
Winning a district championship is always something to celebrate. Winning one this way is also something to build on.
Boyle County defeated Garrard County in convincing fashion Thursday to capture its third consecutive 45th District championship and catapult itself into the regional tournament with a shot of confidence.
The Lady Rebels rolled to a 3-0 victory in the district tournament final at Lincoln County, winning the three sets 25-13, 25-20, 25-5 in their 36th consecutive win against a district opponent.
“This was probably one of our best matches that we have played, and if we play exactly like we did tonight, we will beat everyone in region,” Boyle senior Gracee Teague said.
Things weren’t expected to be quite so easy in the 12th Region Tournament, which began Monday night at West Jessamine when Boyle faced Trinity Christian in a first-round match, but fellow senior Maya Smith said this victory definitely put the Lady Rebels in a good place going into the regional.
“We have a lot of confidence,” Smith said. “We’re going to support each other, and it’s really going to help us as a team when we’re all working together.”
Boyle (28-9) has won its last 12 matches against Garrard since a loss to the Lady Lions early in the 2022 season, its last loss to a 45th District team.
The Lady Rebels, who swept Danville 3-0 in the district semifinals, lost only two sets to district foes this season – they edged Garrard 3-2 on Sept. 23 – and they made sure this match wasn’t close by dominating two of the three sets.
Garrard (12-18) got the first point of the match before Boyle scored 20 of the next 28 to put the first set out of reach.
The second set was closer, tied at 11-all before the Lady Rebels took control, but the third set was never in doubt after they took a 7-2 lead.
The Boyle players said their defense set the tone for the match.
“We did a lot of reading their hits very well, and we always stayed on our toes and moved our feet to the ball and got it right to the target so we could run our offense super fast and put it right back down at them,” Smith said.
Boyle coach Eric Kenoyer said good defense was the key to getting on a roll.
“It enabled us to transfer into a quick offense,” Kenoyer said. “(When) we started the night our passing wasn’t great … and once our passing got on point our offense went.”
Kenoyer said he thought the nature of this win would help his team heading into the regional.
“It helps with our mental toughness,” he said. “There’s areas we need to improve, and what I really appreciate about our girls tonight was even though we weren’t playing great at times, they were disciplined, they committed to each other and they trusted the training, and that’s all going to help us for next week.”
The match drew a better-than-average crowd that included active student sections from each school and another Boyle cheering section made up of junior varsity, freshman, middle school and elementary players.
Teague said the players welcomed the additional noise from those cheering both for and against them.
“When they’re pumping us up and they’re having fun, too, it just encourages us. It just makes us a better team,” Teague said.
Boyle pushed itself for the postseason with a tough schedule and gained momentum along the way. The Lady Rebels have lost only three times since Sept. 7 and had a 14-match winning streak in September.
Garrard swept Kentucky School for the Deaf 3-0 and edged Danville Christian 3-2 to reach the district final.
Coach Samantha Torres said the Lady Lions had some work to do, particularly on defense, before they faced Southwestern in the first round of the regional Tuesday.
“We’ve got a lot of kinks to work out, just building a little bit more confidence going into that region tournament,” Torres said. “Boyle’s a good team, they’re going to swing a lot and we’ve got to be able to pass those, and that’s where we ended up struggling on defense.”