OWENSBORO — Whitley County is bringing home a state championship.
The Lady Colonels battled through five sets Saturday, outlasting Lexington Catholic, 23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-13, 15-13, to capture the Kentucky 2A Classic Volleyball State Championship.
It was a championship performance built on resilience.
Whitley County dropped the opening set, 25-23, before answering with a 25-19 victory in the second. Lexington Catholic regained control with a 25-19 win in the third, putting the Lady Colonels one set away from defeat.
Instead of folding, Whitley responded.
The Lady Colonels dominated the fourth set, racing to a 25-13 victory to force a decisive fifth set. With the state championship on the line, Whitley County finished the job, edging Lexington Catholic 15-13 in the tiebreaker to secure the title.
For Whitley County head coach David Halcomb, the championship was the culmination of countless hours of work by his players and coaching staff.
“Wow, that’s just about all I can say at this point. I just have so much respect for our players and my coaches,” he said. “We work so hard every day in practice, in the weight room, and to see these girls get rewarded for it is so awesome. Not only that, but the love they have for one another and the bond we all share is off the charts. We knew we could win this thing, and our girls were hungry to do something like this.”
Halcomb pointed to the latter stages of the third set as a critical turning point, even though Whitley County ultimately lost the set.
“I felt like we won the match in the third set,” he admitted. “We trailed like 19-10 or something like that. But we went on a run, and even though we lost that set, we made a big run and only lost by a few points. We used that momentum into the fourth set to send it to a tiebreaker.”
That momentum carried directly into the fourth when Whitley defeated Lexington Catholic by 12 points and forced the championship match to a fifth set.
With both teams fighting through fatigue and the pressure of a state championship hanging over every point, Halcomb said his message to the Lady Colonels was simple: stay in the moment and keep fighting for one another.
“Our girls were tired, but they refused to quit,” Halcomb said. “We kept telling them in the timeouts to live in the moment and play with joy and fight for each other. That’s exactly what they did.”
Whitley County then delivered when it mattered most, closing out the fifth set 15-13 and setting off a championship celebration.
The victory came against a Lexington Catholic program Halcomb has tremendous respect for, making the accomplishment even more meaningful for the Lady Colonels.
“I don’t feel like we’ve gotten the respect these girls deserve,” he said. “Lexington Catholic is a great team and ranked ninth in the state, and a final four state tournament team last season. I’m just happy for our girls, our coaching staff, parents and fans! This team is etched in the history books as 2A State Champions. Go Colonels.”
