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Lady Saints fall 3-1 in final regular season match at Ripley
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By CHUCK HAMILTON Sports Writer
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RIPLEY, Ohio -- With quick starts in the first two sets, Ripley Union Lewis Huntington High School celebrated Senior Night with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 19-25, 25-16) win over the St. Patrick Lady Saints in an interstate volleyball match on Wednesday.
The Lady Jays honored their lone senior, Megan Spiller, before the match, and recognized St. Patrick seniors Cora Chamberlain and Celeste Mondragon with a bouquet of flowers as well.
The Lady Jays evened their season record to 9-9 with the victory, mounting 9-1 and 9-2 early leads in each of the first two games, and forcing the Lady Saints to play catch-up in the best three-of-five match.
Junior Rachel Skinner's hard serves helped Ripley gain control in each of the first pair of sets, with five early aces in game one, and opening the second set with three consecutive aces. St. Patrick did narrow the margin to 19-16 in the opener after a pair of Brooke Mosler kills, but sophomore Kelsey Carpenter answered with a pair of kills for the Lady Jays, and added a third moments later. Junior Alex Ormes added a pair of kills late in the set for Ripley. Mosler led the Lady Saints with five kills.
The Lady Jays coasted to the 25-16 win in the second set, paced by Skinner's four aces and two kills, and Carpenter smashing three kills.
St. Patrick turned the tables on the home team in the third set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead after four consecutive Mondragon aces and a kill from Mosler. But Ripley climbed back and claimed the lead at 15-14 after a kill from Katie Skinner. The Lady Saints closed the set with an 11-4 run to force a fourth game. Included in the run were a pair of Katie Crawford kills and aces from Kaylee Griffin and Sarah Tatum.
St. Patrick led 9-6 early in the fourth set before the Lady Jays rallied for the 25-16 clincher. Chamberlain helped to give the visitors the early lead with a pair of kills, the second coming after a long volley between the two teams. Ripley broke open the close game with a 15-5 run to close out the evening, with Carpenter and junior Katlyn Adams playing key roles. Carpenter had four of her five kills down the stretch and Adams served for three consecutive aces to put the Lady Jays in front, 19-12.
The Lady Saints fell to 17-7 and will be traveling to Louisville on Friday to play in the state All "A" Classic volleyball tournament, after winning the 38th district title last week. Ripley plays at Eastern Brown today in its final regular-season match, and faces Blanchester on the road Saturday afternoon in the sectional tournament.
St. Patrick coach Julie McKay said her team wasn't at the top of its game.
"We hadn't played in six days and it showed tonight. We came out very flat and didn't communicate in the first two games. Also, Ripley played well and got on some serve rallies," said McKay. "We had a pep rally at school today and the girls beat the faculty and maybe we left our best game on the court this afternoon. But we did come out of it injury-free, which is a plus. All of the faculty participated, the school student body had a great time and it was a lot of fun."
St. Patrick will enter pool play in the All "A" Classic on Friday evening in Louisville with Metcalfe County, Allen Central and Carroll County.
Bracken County, the 38th District runner-up, is also making the trip to Louisville, with Betsy Layne, Dayton and Henry County in its pool of teams. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five matches in the event.
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