Lady Bulldogs Lose Volleyball Tie-Breaker to Harriman
By Terry Futrell
The Harriman Lady Devils overpowered the Wartburg Central Lady Bulldogs 3-2 in a close tie-breaker at Wartburg Tuesday evening. Each match becomes more important for the teams as they fight for position in the District 3A rankings with the District Volleyball Tournament just two weeks away.
Harriman took an early lead in the first set, only to see Wartburg tie the set at 5-5 and then take a 7-5 lead. Harriman fought back and the teams battled through 10 additional ties before the Lady Devils pulled away. With the score tied 17-17, Harriman’s Laykin Kemp served six consecutive points, three of them aces, to give the Lady Devils a 23-17 lead. Harriman held on to win the set 25-20.
The second set was a mirror image of the first. Wartburg took an early 3-0 lead, only to see Harriman tie the set at 5-5, and again at 7-7. From that point Wartburg pulled away and led the entire way to a 25-18 victory in the set.
Wartburg led off the third set by scoring six points before the Lady Devils could get on the board. Harriman slowly ate away at Wartburg’s lead and finally tied the score at 12-12. The score was tied five more times before Wartburg took a 20-19 lead. The Lady Bulldogs then pulled away for a 25-21 win and a 2-1 set advantage.
“Give up” was not in the Lady Devil’s vocabulary, and they moved out to a 5-1 lead to open the fourth set. Wartburg chipped away at the Harriman lead and tied the score at 9-9. Wartburg had a 14-12 advantage when Lady Devil Kendra Qualls stepped up to serve. Qualls served nine consecutive points, including one ace, to give Harriman a 21-14 lead. The Lady Devils held on to win the set 25-17 and force the tie-breaker fifth set.
Wartburg’s Ieva Urzaite led off serving for Wartburg in the 15-point tie-breaker. Urzaite’s first four serves were aces and the Lady Bulldogs were quickly up 5-0. The Lady Devils were down 8-1 before clawing their way back to trail 11-9. Harriman’s Madi Thompson then served five points, including two aces, to bring the Lady Devils within one point of victory at 14-12. Wartburg could not hold serve and the Lady Devils won the tie-breaker set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
Harriman Coach Ashley Kemp was pleased with the way her team fought without giving up and said, “I’m very proud of them – they didn’t start out very strong, but this season I have seen them grow mentally, and sometimes that means as much as being physically strong on the court.” When asked what she considered to be the difference-maker in this match, Kemp replied “our serve really worked for us in the fifth set. I have some hard servers, and when they are really on, there is no stopping them.”
Harriman also won the junior varsity match in two sets (25-17, 25-15).
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