Holden Volleyball Team Breaks In New Court With Senior Night Win
Senior Night Swing… Lady Eagle senior outside hitter Jaci Gower attacks at the net during Holden’s Senior Night match against Richmond on Monday, Oct. 14. Photo by Steve Edwards
The Lady Eagles volleyball team celebrated its Senior Night by taking a win over conference opponent Richmond by the final score of 3-0 on Monday, Oct. 14.
The home matches played by the Lady Eagles C, junior varsity, and varsity volleyball teams during the Senior Night contest represented the first competition on the newly refurbished floor in the Holden High School gym which now features new artwork and paint.
Prior to the start of the varsity match, Lady Eagle senior volleyball players Izzy Guinn, Emalee Haggard, Grace Kendrick, Jaci Gower, Kia Harmon, and Cami Agee were recognized on the new court in front of a large crowd of family members, friends, and supporters who gathered to celebrate this year’s group of senior volleyball players. All six seniors started in the match against Ricmond.
“These seniors are a diverse group,” said Holden volleyball coach Emily Purnell. “They play every position for us, and they do it to the best of their ability every time. Their leadership and growth mindset have allowed the team to stick to their values as new coaches have come in and out the past four years. The underclassmen have big shoes to fill. This was Kia’s debut night due to injury throughout the season. I am proud to say all of the seniors started.”
Following wins by the C team and the JV teams in final scores of 2-0 for each, the varsity Lady Eagles took their first set over Richmond by the score of 25-15. With the first-set score at 8-6 in Holden’s favor, Gower knocked down a kill to put the Lady Eagles ahead 10-6 before Holden closed out the set with point runs while limiting the Lady Spartan attack.
Following wins by the C team and the JV teams in final scores of 2-0 for each, the varsity Lady Eagles took their first set over Richmond by the score of 25-15. With the first-set score at 8-6 in Holden’s favor, Gower knocked down a kill to put the Lady Eagles ahead 10-6 before Holden closed out the set with point runs while limiting the Lady Spartan attack.
Holden closed the second set by keeping the Lady Spartans off balance and out of system before the Lady Eagles posted five straight points to secure a 25-16 second-set victory. Haggard in her role as libero dropped in a service ace for the final point of the second set.
The third set belonged to Holden from the start as a kill Harmon and an ace from sophomore Brionna Johnson during a five-point run boosted Holden to a 9-2 lead. A kill by sophomore Arionna Johnson proved to be the final point of a second five-point run moments latter. Following a short-lived two-point burst from Richmond, Guinn delivered two service aces before the Lady Eagles went on a 6-2 run late in the third set to capture both the set and the Senior Night win.
Prior to the match against Richmond, the Lady Eagles volleyball team played all of its previous matches of this season on the road.
“It was pretty exciting to get to finally play on our home court and at least take a home win from home court once in the whole season,” said senior Jaci Gower after the match. “This was first time on it. We haven’t even been in here or seen it. It was a full surprise tonight. We just wanted to play good, and especially since it was Senior Night we for sure wanted to play good.”
Gower ended the match with four kills, 10 digs, one assist, and a team-high four aces.
Guinn led the team in kills with 13 to go with three service aces and seven digs.
“It went pretty good,” said Guinn. “I felt like since there was such a big crowd that you just come out and want to win, try your best. I was kind of nervous because you want to do your best, but you don’t want to also mess up because there’s such a big crowd and you feel overwhelmed.”
The opportunity to play the Senior Night match at on the new court following the early-season being spent on the road represented a sort of homecoming for the team as the squad worked through injuries and various lineups throughout the season. The Lady Eagles would go onto collect their second home win, and eighth total win of the season one night following the Senior Night match with a conference win over Lexington on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
“It was frustrating we didn’t get to play any of our season except these two last games at home, and I think that like kind of put a tamper on us because we just weren’t playing like ourselves,” said Gower. “We had nobody supporting…I mean obviously, other than our parents and a few people that showed up, we never had a student section, we never had any of that. I feel like that made a big difference. Our rotation basically switched every other game. It really put a whole thing on our season.”
“It was frustrating we didn’t get to play any of our season except these two last games at home, and I think that like kind of put a tamper on us because we just weren’t playing like ourselves,” said Gower. “We had nobody supporting…I mean obviously, other than our parents and a few people that showed up, we never had a student section, we never had any of that. I feel like that made a big difference. Our rotation basically switched every other game. It really put a whole thing on our season.”
The Holden Senior Night volleyball win allowed the Lady Eagles to put their stamp on the new high school gym.
“It was pretty great that we won our first game on this court,” said Gower.
“It was pretty great that we won our first game on this court,” said Gower.
“And Senior Night, it was a good win,” chimed in Guinn.
For Holden along with Gower and Guinn’s stats noted above, senior libero Emalee Haggard had 3 aces, 2 assists, and a team-high 19 digs. Senior middle hitter Grace Kendrick totaled 5 kills and 2 digs. Senior middle hitter Kia Harmon had 1 kill. Senior setter Cami Agee had 4 kills, 7 digs, and set for a team-high 18 assists.
Underclassmen stat totals included Brionna Johnson with 5 kills, 2 aces, 2 digs, and 1 assist. Arionna Johnson had 1 kill, 6 digs, and set for 6 assists. Junior setter Haliee Lloyd totaled 1 kill, 3 aces, , and 2 assists.C Team Note And JV Team Note
The Lady Eagles C team opened Senior Night activities on Monday, Oct. 14, by defeating the Richmond C team by the final score of 2-0 (25-21, 25-20). Freshman Kenzie Stewart recorded an ace on the first serve of the first set of the C team match as she made the first serve on the newly refurbished volleyball court at Holden High School.
The Lady Eagles JV team followed the C team win with a win over the Richmond JV team by the final score of 2-0 (25-23, 25-15).
“C team and JV got to experience their first home game,” said coach Purnell. “It was exciting to see how the freshman handled the energy of being on home court after playing at away games all season. These teams have grown so much throughout the season. They have learned what it means to communicate as a team.”
The Lady Eagles C team opened Senior Night activities on Monday, Oct. 14, by defeating the Richmond C team by the final score of 2-0 (25-21, 25-20). Freshman Kenzie Stewart recorded an ace on the first serve of the first set of the C team match as she made the first serve on the newly refurbished volleyball court at Holden High School.
The Lady Eagles JV team followed the C team win with a win over the Richmond JV team by the final score of 2-0 (25-23, 25-15).
“C team and JV got to experience their first home game,” said coach Purnell. “It was exciting to see how the freshman handled the energy of being on home court after playing at away games all season. These teams have grown so much throughout the season. They have learned what it means to communicate as a team.”
