The Lady Tiger volleyball program has earned another trip to a state tournament.
Caldwell County’s girls, who played in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state tourney last year, will play in the All ‘A’ Classic state tournament next month.
The Lady Tigers will head to Louisville Oct. 10-12 after winning the 2nd Region All ‘A” tournament championship Saturday afternoon at Murray High School.
“It’s huge any time you can go to a state tournament. The kids are really excited,” noted Caldwell head coach Sue Stone.
The Lady Tigers made quick work of Livingston Central in Saturday morning’s semifinals, prevailing 25-9, 25-6.
Caldwell then defeated top-seeded Murray 25-15, 25-22 in the finale.
It was the second All ‘A’ regional title of the week for CCHS. The boys golf team won their All ‘A’ regional tournament on Wednesday at Deer Lakes Golf Course in Salem.
Both Caldwell and Murray will represent the 2nd Region at the state tourney. Murray was moved to this region due to an overcrowded field of Class A schools in the 1st Region.
“I really respect Murray and they’ve got a good team,” said Stone. “You’d like to see both of us have some success at state. This end of the state doesn’t get much respect, but we haven’t really earned that respect yet.”
Samm Jones helped lead the Lady Tigers in the victory over Livingston (3-7). She recorded 15 points off serve, including eight aces, while adding three kills.
Emily Meeks added six kills while Casey Stone had four. Hilary Franklin served seven points with three aces and led the team with eight set assists. Hannah Riddle added five serves and two kills.
Riddle had eight kills in the victory over Murray (4-2) and added four points off serve, including three aces.
Meeks had seven kills, four digs and seven serves. Jones had nine serves with four aces along with five kills and two digs. Stone had five kills. Franklin had 11 set assists, eight serves, three kills and two digs. Akeisha Peek had five set assists.
Caldwell is now 2-2 all-time in matches against Murray. The Lady Tigers have defeated Livingston twice this season and are 8-0 all-time against the Lady Cardinals.
The All ‘A’ Classic state tourney will be played at the MidAmerica Volleyball Association’s Sports Center in Louisville. Thirty-two teams (regional champions and runners-up) will advance to state play. Teams will be paired into four-team pools, with the top two teams advancing to the Gold division and the bottom two advancing to the Silver division. Each school is guaranteed five matches in the event while some may play as many as seven.
That’s a major difference from the KHSAA state tournament, which is a single-elimination format. Caldwell has played in that tourney twice, losing first round games in both 2003 and 2007.
• The Lady Tigers returned to the regular schedule Tuesday night with a 25-17, 25-16 victory at Trigg County.
The win improved Caldwell to 13-2 overall and 3-0 in district matches.
“Our objective was to be methodical and get a good solid district win,” noted Stone. “We didn’t want to come back after the tournament and not play well.”
Meeks had eight kills, including four block kills, to lead the Lady Tigers. Jones had five kills while Riddle and Franklin each recorded four kills in the contest. Stone had three kills.
Franklin also added 11 set assists while Peek had five set assists and a tip kill.
Tuesday’s game was originally scheduled as a home date for Caldwell. However, the schools swapped home games this season, meaning the Lady Tigers will host Trigg on Sept. 16.
Caldwell has now taken six straight matches from Trigg and leads the all-time series 12-6.
The Lady Tigers also rolled in the junior varsity match, picking up a 21-9, 21-7 victory at Trigg.
Jessie Stone had 10 points off serve with six aces in that match. Bayley Tucker added five serves with four aces while Abigail Coleman had five points with two aces.
Coleman also picked up four kills while Laykin Peek, Tucker and Stone each recorded three kills.
Stone and Olivia Newby each had two set assists in the JV contest.
The Lady Tigers will face another district foe on Thursday when they host Livingston Central at the CAB gym.
“They could come in here motivated after the way we beat them Saturday,” said Stone. “We don’t want to let down against them.
“The district games are really important because you want to go into the district tournament as the No. 1 seed.”
Livingston will host the 7th District tournament in October.
“That’s even more important because the winner of our district will host the regional tournament,” said Stone. “All of the teams in our district are good enough that, if you let them stay close, they’re dangerous.”
Caldwell will host its varsity Slam Fest tournament this Saturday. The 10-team event will be divided into five-team pools for preliminary round robin action.
Caldwell’s pool will include Trigg County, Calloway County, Hopkins County Central and Ft. Campbell. That pool will play at the CAB gym beginning at 9 a.m.
The other pool will feature Christian County, McLean County, Massac County, Ill., Union County and Todd County Central. That pool will play at the Caldwell County Elementary School gym starting at 9 a.m.
The top three teams in each pool will advance to the single elimination portion of the tournament, which will be played at the CAB gym starting at 4 p.m. The championship match is slated to begin at 8 p.m.
