Experienced Jackson County takes scrimmage from North

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North Laurel’s Kelsey Hacker sets the ball for a teammate in the Lady Jaguars scrimmage against Jackson County Thursday. North Laurel lost all three sets to an improved Lady Generals team. Photo by Mitch Howard

August 7, 2012

Experienced Jackson County takes scrimmage from North

By Mitch Howard Sports Writer The Sentinel-Echo Tue Aug 07, 2012, 03:30 PM EDT

LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Thursday marked the second scrimmage for the North Laurel girls’ volleyball team, who swept Lynn Camp in three sets Tuesday. It was a tougher test against a Jackson County team that has steadily improved under Coach Lindsey Gasperic.

North Laurel lost all three sets 25-21, 25-22, and 25-16.

“I just told (the team) I’m not going to get angry or upset because this is a scrimmage and a time to learn. I did see some things we need to work on though,” North Laurel Coach Ali Ray said.

North Laurel’s inexperience showed at times against the Lady Generals. The Lady Jaguars are trying to replace six seniors that received a majority of the playing time last season. Jackson County has everyone back from last year’s team.

“Last year they were close and this year they are finally there,” Ray said of the Lady Generals.

Much of what Ray saw Thursday from her team was what she expected from a group just learning to play together.

“We’ve been mixing up the lineup a lot, trying to find six that can play well together. They have yet to play an entire set with the same group of people,” Ray said. “It’s going to take a while to get to know each other and figure out who can do what.”

With just two weeks of practice behind them, there hasn’t been a lot of time to polish the rough edges. That showed as North Laurel fell behind midway through the first two sets, then rallied to make it close at the end.

“That last set I thought we kind of gave up, but the first two sets we did show a little bit of fight,” Ray said.

The Lady Generals led 21-13 in the first set before a poor Jackson County serve gave North Laurel the break they needed. A tip by North’s Jada Imhoff, was followed by a Jackson County kill. Another net serve by the Lady Generals, put North’s Ashley Wyatt at server. Wyatt led a 6-0 Lady Jaguar spurt. Wyatt served four straight aces to cut the lead to 22-21.

“Her serves really looked good tonight,” Ray said. “Some of our servers that usually serve it in were not up to par tonight.”

The North Laurel rally ended when a kill sailed long. Jackson County scored the next two points to end the match.

In the second set, after a 12-12 tie, the Lady Jaguars would have to play catch-up. Jackson County led 19-15 when the Lady Jaguars showed life again. A pair of kills by Miranda Browning had North Laurel back to even at 20-20, but they would not take the lead. Ray would like to see more strong play at the net from Browning.

“She can have moments. She is amazing,” Ray said.

Jackson County’s advantage at the line proved to be the difference in the closing points of the second set and again as they pulled away in the final set. North Laurel trailed 11-10 when the Lady Generals scored six straight points, most of the damage at the net. North Laurel got as close as 17-14 on a kill by Sierra Hedrick. The Lady Generals scored the next seven points beginning and ending with a kill from their tall front line.

“It seemed like we never could get over the hump. We would get close and miss a serve or something silly like that,” Ray said.

MHOWARD@sentinel-echo.com

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