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<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NICHOLASVILLE \u2014 Whitley County opened its volleyball season with a challenging road test Tuesday, falling in straight sets to preseason No. 9 West Jessamine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lady Colonels (0-1) battled the defending 12th Region champions before falling 25-21, 25-19 and 25-16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitley County coach David Halcomb purposely put together a challenging schedule for his squad this season and knew Tuesday\u2019s opener would provide an early test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a very good volleyball team, and we are only going to get better by playing a tough schedule,\u201d Halcomb said. \u201cI made that a priority this season. So, we knew going in this was going to be a challenging season opener on the road for us, but our girls were looking forward to it. West Jessamine has won the 12th Region for several years and are preseason No. 9 in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitley County remained within striking distance throughout much of the first two sets but couldn\u2019t find the consistency needed to get past the Lady Colts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m disappointed that we lost and didn\u2019t execute as well as we\u2019d like,\u201d Halcomb said. \u201cWe were within two to three points most of the way in the first two sets, but we just couldn\u2019t find a good rhythm and made some costly mistakes \u2014 just can\u2019t do that against great teams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the loss, Halcomb believes facing strong competition will pay dividends for his team as the season progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n