Clay County made program history Saturday at the McCreary Center Invitational.
After dropping its first 24 meetings against South Laurel, the Lady Tigers finally broke through, rallying from a one-set deficit to defeat the Lady Cardinals, 2-1, for their first victory over South Laurel in program history.
South Laurel took the opening set, 25-19, but Clay County responded in impressive fashion with a 26-4 victory in the second set to force a decisive third.
With history within reach, the Lady Tigers finished the job with a 15-11 victory in the third.
“This team is hungry to grow and improve every time they step onto the court,” Clay County coach Kendall Deaton Culver said. “I’m really impressed with the way we aggressively serve and find a way to attack around the block. We have some errors in defense that we need to adjust, but I am proud of the work this team has put in the first week, securing three region wins.”
The victory was the latest highlight of an impressive opening week against 13th Region competition.
“This is the first-ever win in program history for Clay County against South Laurel,” Culver said. “We also secured a district win on the road versus Jackson County on Monday at our season opener, 3-2, and beat Harlan County, 3-0, at home on Thursday.”
Clay County is now 3-3 overall and 3-1 against 13th Region opponents.
The Lady Tigers’ historic win also ended an 0-24 series drought against one of the region’s traditionally strong programs and gave Clay County three regional victories during the opening week of the season.
