Elite 8: Boyd County vs. Paul-Laurence Dunbar

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two stellar teams, Boyd County and Paul-Laurence Dunbar, played each other on November 3rd, 2022 at 2 PM and had an impressive match. Both teams finished with over 30 wins this year and zero losses in their respective district and region. However, one team must end their road in these state games, and Paul-Laurence Dunbar actually did end up taking the match in three straight sets 25-16, 25-9, and 25-12. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Boyd County started off with a lot of fire and energy in the first set where their six rotation junior outside hitter, [player_tooltip player_id='158379' first='Taylor' last='Bartrum'], balled out and had a couple kills to kick off the match. On the night, she ended with 7 kills and 2 errors on 18 attempts which meant hitting a .278 and also adding 8 digs. Bartrum was a player throughout the match and really helped the Lady Lions offensively and defensively. Senior libero, Lyndsey Ekers, had a great night too where she pushed for a lot of balls out of her range and made extraordinary plays in the back row. Setter setter, Aly Caldwell, aided to the team's energy too, where she ended with 13 assists and had some pivotal second contact attacks that got the Lady Lions out of a lot of trouble. These two senior studs will be missed as they made an imprint on Boyd County and led the team to one of their best seasons yet in the Elite Eight. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then, the winner of the match, Paul-Laurence Dunbar, severely took over the game after the first 15 points in set one. Dunbar is a team that can fire at you from anywhere on the court whether it's their strong defensive pursuit, careful ball handling on the second contact, or offensive power from the pins and middles. For example, junior outside hitter [player_tooltip player_id='107413' first='Delaney' last='Gash'], made a statement of Dunbar's high-level play when she came in for a two ball in the middle and absolutely crushed it on the ten-foot line to give her team a 9-6 lead in the second set. Gash continued to have herself a night with 15 kills and only 2 errors on 25 attempts which meant hitting a .520. That's just insane numbers. Then, other star outside hitter, [player_tooltip player_id='106672' first='Ava' last='Jackson'], proved herself as an offensive machine hitting a .476 and having 12 kills in just three sets. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior middle hitter, Nyla Gains followed up to the hitting success with 9 kills and 3 errors on 17 attempts which meant hitting a .353 which is extremely remarkable for any middle hitter. Gains was a silent killer there for awhile and then dominated the match near the end with her strong offense and defense. Moreover, my favorite player for this talented Dunbar team is sophomore setter, [player_tooltip player_id='198544' first='Isabela' last='Haggard']. She's just a player that you have to watch in person. Haggard jump sets almost every ball and stays neutral with her hands and then boom, flicks it out to either pin so naturally. Any team against Dunbar must have a hard time defensively because of [player_tooltip player_id='198544' first='Isabela' last='Haggard']'s smooth hands and great decision making. Then, the icing on the cake is she's just a sophomore and will only get better. Dunbar's future is indeed bright. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can watch this successful, ranked team take on the also ranked and skillful Bowling Green Lady Purples on November 4th, 2022 at 12 PM in an epic semifinal match! A battle of the public schools!!!! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->