Mason County’s Makaylynn Crabtree makes a block against the Pendlton County Lady Cats on September 10, 2024.
The Mason County Lady Royals hosted the Pendleton County Lady Cats on the volleyball court Tuesday night.
Since the Fleming County Seeds for Success tournament, Mason County has been on a bit of a losing streak, dropping six straight games prior to their second contest of the year with the Lady Cats. The first time the two team’s faced off against one another, the contest went to five sets, Pendleton County coming out on top with a 3-2 victory over the Lady Royals. Heading into this contest, Mason County was hoping to put an end to their losing streak, and come out on top of the Lady Cats.
“We’ve been on a bit of a losing streak lately, trying to overcome some different things and fix some mistakes that we keep making. They came out and played hard tonight, so I’ve gotta be proud of that. I’ve gotta be proud that they took them to five and they didn’t give up.” said Lady Royals head coach, Nellie Book.
The Lady Royals would start down the path of doing just that early in set one, building up a 4-1 lead over the Lady Cats. Unfortunately for Mason County, Pendleton County would tie the contest 6-6, eventually pulling ahead to lead 8-7. The Lady Royals would tie the contest again 10-10, and keep the game tied all the way through 15-15, eventually building up a three point, 18-15 lead. Late in the set, Mason County was leading 21-19, but would fall behind, allowing the Lady Cats to take the set 25-23, heading into set two down 1-0.
In set two, the Lady Cats jumped out ahead of Mason County early, quickly building up a huge lead, and maintaining it into the late points of the set, leading 20-8 over Mason County. As the set continued, the Lady Royals would score, but would be unable to catch up to Pendleton County, the Lady Cats taking set two 25-12, now 2-0 in the contest.
“I told them it was do or die. If we don’t win this one, we go home. So they had to fight and battle to be able to keep playing.” said coach Book.
Throughout set three, Mason County would build up a lead early, leading 5-1 over the Lady Cats, a lead they would be able to maintain throughout much of the early part of the set. The Lady Royals would expand on their lead midway through, leading 10-2 over the Lady Cats, as the set continued, with Pendleton County eventually catching up to tie the contest 24-24. Mason County would be able to score two more before the end of the set, taking set three 26-24, now down just one set in the contest, heading into set four 2-1.
“That do or die mentality and just being on that high from that third set helped them in the fourth.” said coach Book.
Set four was another closely fought battle between the two teams, with Pendleton County leading 7-3 early, but Mason County catching up to trail behind 21-20. The Lady Royals would fight to tie the contest 24-24, and once again take another 26-24 victory over the Lady Cats, now tied 2-2, and heading into the fifth and final set eager for a victory.
The early part of set five would remain another closely fought battle, staying tied throughout much of the early points, with Pendleton County able to pull ahead for a small, 7-6 lead over Mason County. As the set continued, the Lady Cats would expand upon their lead, leading 10-7, and would continue to pull ahead into the later points. Pendleton County would take the set 15-10, but coach Book and the Lady Royals felt good about their performance this game.
“It didn’t go the way we wanted it do, but we did do better tonight in that fifth set than we did at Pendleton, so that’s a win.” said coach Book.
The Lady Royals then hosted the Lewis County Lady Lions last night at home, before hitting the road to Montgomery County this evening. Coach Book and the Lady Royals’ plan still remains the same.
“I have several sick ones, so I told them to get some rest, hydrate and hopefully tomorrow we’re feeling better and on our A-game.” said coach Book.
Following tonight’s trip to Montgomery County to take on the Lady Indians, the Lady Royals will head to Nicholas County this Saturday to compete against the St. Pat Lady Saints, Nicholas County Lady Jackets, and Robertson County Lady Devils, before returning home on Monday to host the Lady Jackets.
