Woodford County showed flashes of its potential Tuesday night, battling Tates Creek through four sets before falling 3-1.
The Lady Jackets responded to a difficult opening set with a convincing win in the second and continued to battle throughout the final two sets. Tates Creek won 25-11, 16-25, 25-18, 25-17.
Woodford scored the opening point of the match off an Addie Bryant serve, but Tates Creek answered with a 12-2 run to take control of the first set. The Yellow Jackets cut the deficit to 13-7 behind a Lucy Culbertson ace and a pair of points at the net before the Commodores pulled away for the 25-11 win.
Woodford quickly turned the momentum in the second set.
The Lady Jackets jumped out to a 5-0 advantage behind the serving of Amelia Miller and maintained their lead at 10-6. Woodford continued to apply pressure, with points from Lydia Sumner and Culbertson helping stretch the advantage to 19-9.
Tates Creek attempted to rally late, but Woodford maintained control and evened the match with a 25-16 victory. Culbertson punctuated the set with a kill on the final point.
The third set was tied 6-6 before three Woodford attacks sailed out, helping Tates Creek build a 9-6 advantage. The Commodores extended the lead to 11-6 before Caroline Gribble stopped the run with a point for the Yellow Jackets.
Trailing 15-10, Scarlett Dabney provided another spark with a kill followed by an ace to pull Woodford within three. The Lady Jackets later fought off three set points before Tates Creek closed out the set, 25-18.
Woodford again came out aggressively in the fourth, racing to an 8-3 lead. Tates Creek rallied to move ahead 12-11 and later held a 16-13 advantage. Dabney answered with a kill before Gribble followed with an ace.
The Commodores stretched their lead to 20-15 before Culbertson ended the run with another kill, but Tates Creek went on to close the match with a 25-17 win.
Woodford Coach Meghan Bottom said she was encouraged by the energy her team displayed, especially after competing in a tournament over the weekend.
“Our energy, after a tournament this weekend, was really good, and I thought we had pretty good energy tonight,” Bottom said. “That’s been a huge growth for us.”
With the postseason about a month away and a home tournament coming up, Bottom said the next step is maintaining that effort while becoming more difficult for opponents to defend.
“Probably that consistency and that aggressiveness, and then mixing up our shots,” Bottom said. “So we’re a little less predictable than what we’re doing.”
Woodford went 3-2 in the Bryan Station Invitational Sept. 11-12. After losing both games on Friday night, they rallied for wins over Breckinridge County, Marshall County and 8th Region foe Henry County.