VOLLEYBALL: Red Bud rolls past Pinckneyville into Regional final

Pinckneyville will not get the chance to defend their Volleyball Regional title, as the Lady Panthers went down in straight sets at Tuesday's semifinal against top-seeded Red Bed, 25-11, 25-15.

There were two stretches - one in each set - during which the Lady Musketeers dominated the match, taking nine straight points in the first set to build a 23-9 advantage, and doing the same in set two, grabbing a 14-5 lead.

"We have a situation where we're playing a 5-1 offense," said PCHS head coach Janice Lamb, "so when we've got (Kaitlyn) Sweeney in the front row, our setter, who is small of stature but mighty of heart, they key in on that. She's on the right side, so I've just got a middle blocker coming over, and I think that's always been a weakness on our team, but they really capitalized on it tonight."

"Then I think our serve receive was really off-balance. I don't know what was going on, whether the serves were just really aggressive, or we just weren't feeling it tonight. That's usually been a strong part of our game."

The Lady Panthers trimmed the deficit to five in the second set at 18-13, but Red Bud responded and regained control of the match.

Pinckneyville's efforts were hampered by a knee injury to Ashley Wild late in the opening set, as the sophomore had to be carried from the court and did not return.

"It definitely affected the girls," Lamb said. "There were definitely some tears between the sets. I know they were very concerned about her, as I was."

Emma Banach and Sophie Keith led the PCHS offense with four kills apiece. Kaitlyn Sweeney added eight assists, Mady Epplin had sixteen digs.

The loss ends a solid year for Pinckneyville, despite a sub-.500 overall record. The Lady Panthers finished 7-3 in conference play to place second behind Nashville a season after losing six seniors from a Regional championship team - the first in school history.

"We graduated six seniors and I've got the youngest group that I've ever had," said Lamb. "The freshmen have really stepped up. The learning curve was really sharp at the beginning of the season, but they have just stepped up and become quality players. I know they're going to continue to grow and learn the game."

"We had our best conference record this year, finishing second behind Nashville, so we're definitely proud of that. I think there's real good growth here in Panther volleyball, the future looks good."