First Round State: Elizabethtown at North Oldham Takeaways

At the state level, teams generally settle into good offensive rhythms unless badly overmatched on serve reception. Thus, balls may not land on the first or second attempts so the teams that do a better job staying the course through rallies until balls land better pull through with big wins to move on to the next round.   That proved to more than be the case in the first round state game Monday between the 5th Region champion Elizabethtown Panthers and 8th Region champion North Oldham Mustangs. Both teams had a number of big hits, but North Oldham won out with depth 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-14) to move on to the state quarterfinals for the first time since driving to the state semifinals in 2019. North Oldham faces 3rd Region champion Apollo (31-10) at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Winchester.   North Oldham (25-11) saw a number of veteran and younger players contribute to the win. It started with libero [player_tooltip player_id='547082' first='Ashlyn' last='Thompson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='752630' first='Raleigh' last='Becker']. Elizabethtown went at Thompson hard in the first set landing three aces to build a 7-2 lead. However, North Oldham head coach Brian Jones said he challenged Thompson to lock in and she did, making smoother first touches as the game progressed.   North Oldham's two setters in [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'] and [player_tooltip player_id='885831' first='Chloe' last='Clark'] continuously ran the offense with efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id='706522' first='Vita' last='Sensenbrenner'], [player_tooltip player_id='484260' first='Lilah' last='Anthony'], [player_tooltip player_id='212386' first='Reagan' last='Baxter'] and [player_tooltip player_id='780301' first='Alex' last='Cannon'] took a number of big swings with [player_tooltip player_id='875414' first='Hannah' last='Droppelman'] making nice plays at the net defensively and [player_tooltip player_id='789088' first='Brooklyn' last='Totten'] landing some key aces. Cannon and [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'] also had some big aces.   Elizabethtown's 6-6 [player_tooltip player_id='212253' first='Jessica' last='Smallwood'] was named Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association Ms. Kentucky Volleyball on Monday. Smallwood finished her career with another big all-around game off great assists from setter [player_tooltip player_id='533345' first='Addison' last='Janes']. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='748731' first='Maci' last='Singleton'] also had a nice game offensively. [player_tooltip player_id='761937' first='Lexi' last='Davis'] and [player_tooltip player_id='533346' first='Grace' last='Godfrey'] had some good first touches to start the offense for the Panthers (29-10) with [player_tooltip player_id='789089' first='Haylee' last='Mcalister'] and MaKenna Brown reaching high for big blocks.   "We talked about Jess. We had a nice little spray chart of where she was going to hit the ball," North Oldham head coach Brian Jones said of Smallwood. "Based on our scouting, we defended her rather well. We changed defense a little bit just to give us some more touches."   Jones added the Mustangs talk a lot about dig to attack percentages. When North Oldham traveled to Elizabethtown on Oct. 13 and won 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 28-26, 25-18), Jones said the Mustangs had a 95.8 percent dig to attack percentage. Jones said that was not the case early, but it turned that way as the game progressed allowing the Mustangs to put down those second and third swings on those rallies.   North Oldham wound up coming back to take the lead. Droppelman landed a kill on an overpass to put North Oldham up 22-17 with Anthony finishing the first set landing a cross shot.   The Mustangs came out stronger in the second set building a 10-2 lead with Cannon landing two aces. Elizabethtown though came back to tie it at 17 then went ahead 19-17 when Smallwood blocked [player_tooltip player_id='212386' first='Reagan' last='Baxter']. Tied at 21, [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'] landed an ace and Anthony hit one off blocks to put North Oldham up 23-21. After a Smallwood kill, the Mustangs went up 2-0 when Elizabethtown hit a long serve and long hit.   North Oldham tried to finish things off in the third set going up 3-0. But Elizabethtown battled back. Smallwood landed three kills in a row to give the Panthers a 22-17 advantage. Smallwood hit another good cross to put the Panthers up 24-19. The Mustangs scored two in a row before the Panthers finished the fourth set on a Smallwood kill.   The fourth set initially stayed tight. North Oldham jumped ahead 6-2 before three straight Elizabethtown scores trimmed the margin to 6-5. That's when the Mustangs scored four in a row led by two Sensenbrenner kills to go up 10-5. North Oldham added five more in a row after a Smallwood kill to go up 15-6. [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'] landed two aces during that run. Up 23-10, Sensenbrenner hit a line kill to make it 24-12 then finished the game after Elizabethtown scored two more points.   Notable Performers    Anthony's experience playing on a top team at KIVA shows daily. Anthony has a great approach to the net and swings through with authority. The setters put balls at the peak of her swings allowing her to put balls through creases making opponents have to move to get to balls. Her head coach wanted to see more hits from the back row and Anthony had been doing that in the spring during club season. She steadily improved hitting balls there throughout her career. Anthony said acknowledging what went wrong on initial attempts helped her better balls on the next attempts.     Droppelman (pictured) is a reliable offensive weapon for the Mustangs with her size. Droppelman had some key kills in the game, but her defense stood out more than anything in the big win for North Oldham. Droppelman has good form and timing on her blocks and it showed as she stuffed Smallwood on big occasions. Droppelman said each block added up to big momentum swings for the Mustangs.     Becker patrolled the back row with authority for the Mustangs. She keeps keen eyes on balls and tries to position her feet to beat balls to their destinations on the ground. Becker made a number of diving saves under control that lead to big points for North Oldham. She consistently forms walls around balls with her arms. Becker said she tries to read shoulders on opposing hitters as well as possible and takes a don't let balls drop mentality on defense.     Baxter once again ran the offense with great touches on her sets. Baxter sends balls forward and has mastered a number of sets including nines and fives. Baxter has figured out where the younger hitters want balls and sets them up in stride. Baxter said the North Oldham coaches work really well with setters to run a variety of plays.     Sensenbrenner came through with big swings and first touches time and time again for North Oldham. Sensenbrenner may be quiet off the court, but she turns into beat mode on the court constantly coming through in big games for the Mustangs. Sensenbrenner's height and athleticism more than make a difference on the court.     Smallwood used every ounce of her athleticism and size trying to will the Panthers to Winchester. Smallwood put down a number of overpasses and used a variety of cut shots to try to find gaps in the tough North Oldham defense. Smallwood benefits from a setter that consistently hits her at the peak of her swings so blockers have a hard time getting hands on balls. Her legacy to not just Elizabethtown, but Kentucky High School volleyball will not be forgotten by this generation.     McAlister tried to give the Panthers the balance they needed to advance in the tournament. McAlister had a number of solo blocks on plays North Oldham has had a lot of success with this season. McAlister forms walls at the net on double blocks often getting hands on balls to slow them down for defensive specialists.    Stat Leaders   Kills   [player_tooltip player_id='212253' first='Jessica' last='Smallwood'], Elizabethtown - 29   [player_tooltip player_id='706522' first='Vita' last='Sensenbrenner'], North Oldham - 19   [player_tooltip player_id='484260' first='Lilah' last='Anthony'], North Oldham - 10   [player_tooltip player_id='212386' first='Reagan' last='Baxter'], North Oldham - 10   [player_tooltip player_id='748731' first='Maci' last='Singleton'], Elizabethtown - 9   [player_tooltip player_id='780301' first='Alex' last='Cannon'], North Oldham - 9   Assists   [player_tooltip player_id='533345' first='Addison' last='Janes'], Elizabethtown - 38   [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'], North Oldham - 37   [player_tooltip player_id='885831' first='Chloe' last='Clark'], North Oldham - 10   Digs   [player_tooltip player_id='547082' first='Ashlyn' last='Thompson'], North Oldham - 17   Janes - 15   [player_tooltip player_id='761937' first='Lexi' last='Davis'], Elizabethtown - 12   Smallwood - 10   Sensenbrenner - 9   [player_tooltip player_id='533346' first='Grace' last='Godfrey'], Elizabethtown - 8   Anthony - 8   [player_tooltip player_id='752630' first='Raleigh' last='Becker'], North Oldham - 7   Blocks   [player_tooltip player_id='789089' first='Haylee' last='Mcalister'], Elizabethtown - 6   [player_tooltip player_id='875414' first='Hannah' last='Droppelman'], North Oldham - 5   MaKenna Brown, Elizabethtown - 4   Smallwood - 3   Singleton - 3   Aces   Janes - 6   Cannon - 4   [player_tooltip player_id='724992' first='Berkeley' last='Baxter'] - 4   [player_tooltip player_id='789088' first='Brooklyn' last='Totten'], North Oldham - 4   Davis - 4   Brown - 3   Smallwood - 2   Note from the Writer   Mike Graham has been writing for Prep Dig for nearly two years and has enjoyed getting to know the volleyball scenes in both Kentucky and Ohio. 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At the state level, teams generally settle into good offensive rhythms unless badly overmatched on serve reception. Thus, balls may not land on the first or second attempts so the teams that do a better job staying the course through rallies until balls land better pull through with big wins to move on to the next round.