SK PIONEER SPORTS: Neers Lose One They Wanted

The Pioneer V-ball teams hosted former district foe Holy Cross tonight at the Joe. A nice crowd turned out for the midweek contest with the Neer teams having high hopes for a sweep of HC. The Frosh got things started off on the right track winning two out of three. The JV started off playing, well plain old lousy. Not sure how else to say it. Forward to a timeout by Coach Hacker that quieted the gym and got her girls going as the reserve bunch comes back and played some very good and inspired vball and took the Indians down in three. A very nice match for the JVNeers.

The momentum that was started by the younger Neers carried over to the varsity match. The girls were looking very strong as they jumped out to leads of 14-7 and 18-10. The energy and mo that the Neers had going was not enough to put Holy Cross away as the home team goes down in the first set 21-25. A heartbreaker but that’s what a good team like HC does. The girls had an obvious look of disappointment as they switched sides of the net going into the second set but definitely still looked determined. Once again, the girls jumped out to a lead but failed to finish as HC comes back to win 23-25. The girls simply pressed too hard in the third set and went down by a score of 11-25 and mentally were just not in that game. Some stats of interest, Kaitlin Murray had 9 kills, 10 digs and 2 blocks, Samantha Eudy had 7 kills and 13 digs and Sophia Dunn had 20 assists.

Alright, dag-gone-it, the team outplayed its opponent for a good portion of the first two sets but just didn’t finish. It is certainly not a lack of talent or effort, it just comes down to not stepping on the good teams and putting them away. BUT, they are right there and have some great challenges coming up over the course of the next week as they play some very strong competition with Ryle tomorrow in Union and Boone, Notre Dame and Cooper in away contests Tuesday through Thursday of next week. The girls also will get a strong test this weekend in the Cake Classic Tourney at Highlands with some very strong teams coming in including the North Oldham Mustangs, the defending 8^th Region Tourney Champs.

Good luck this weekend girls; you’ve got a great season going and it is time to finish!

A serious picture of the seniors before the match.

Nothing wrong with being a little pumped after a nice match win.

JV girls got with it after a little encouragement from Coach Hacker. Couple of shots from the middles.

Rallying the troops.

I've been a little remiss mentioning Match Coordinator, Kiley Ayers. Kiley suffered a knee injury during the club season this past spring that was about as bad as a knee injury gets; she literally tore about everything one could tear in a knee. For home games, Kiley makes sure the music is playing, line-ups are exchanged, tracking is done and of course Mr. Microphone is ready. She does a great job of making sure everything at the table runs smoothly. SK Blog tip of the cap to you Kiley for your great service to all the teams throughout the season.