The 2010 Grayson County sports year kicked off Monday as the Lady Cougar volleyball team traveled to Elizabethtown for scrimmage games against the Lady Panthers.

Though the varsity played well, especially in the first set, the Lady Cougars dropped an 0-2 (24-26.13-25) decision to the Lady Panthers.

The JV squads played three sets, with E’town winning all three, 15-21, 4-21, 14-21.

VARSITY

The Lady Cougars got the early jump on E’town. Trailing 3-4, Grayson County scored five straight to go up by four points, 8-4. Senior Erica Clemons served an ace and added a kill during the Lady Cougar run.

Grayson County continued to hold the lead until midway through the match, when Kimberly Morris took the serve with her Panthers trailing 13-12. Denisha Nichols scored a kill off a Grayson County block to tie the score. A Lady Cougar hitting error gave the Panthers the lead, 13-14, then Morris served an ace to make it 13-15. A kill by Grayson County sophomore Jessika Young halted the E’town run, but the Lady Panthers had the lead.

The Lady Panthers slowly expanded the lead until they took the serve, leading by four, 19-23. Senior Andrea Pauley came up with a big kill for a rally point, then took over the serve for the Lady Cougars. Pauley served an ace, then Clemons put away a kill and E’town called a timeout with their lead cut to just one point, 22-23.

The Lady Cougars dug a ball that went for a kill on the line and the game was tied 23-23. Pauley then served another ace to give the Lady Cougars a set-point at 24-23, but E’town’s Darian Ditto stopped the Cougar run with a kill to tie things and give her team the serve,

With Brittany Daniel serving for the Panthers, Pauley put a ball into the net, giving the Panthers a set-point. E’town did not waste the opportunity as Mary Beth Russell put away a ball down the sideline to give her team the win.

In the second set, the Cougars gave up a 7-0 run early in the game that proved the be the difference. Trailing 3-2, the Panthers got three kills from Nichols and took advantage of a pair of Cougar hitting errors during the run.

Clemons stopped the run with a kill, but Grayson County trailed by five at that point and was never able to recover as the Panthers slowly expanded the lead.

Grayson County travels to Logan County on Thursday for varsity-only scrimmage games with Logan, Edmonson County and Bowling Green. The regular season will begin next Monday with home games against visiting Edmonson County, beginning at 5 p.m.

JV

The Cougars trailed early, 1-5 but came back to tie things at 5-5. The teams stayed tied or within a point of each other until three straight Grayson County points gave the Cougars their only lead of the set, 11-10.

The Panthers responded with a rally-point and three straight points to grab the lead 11-14 and they never trailed again. E’town’s Megan Meek had a pair of aces during the run.

The second set was all Elizabethtown as the Cougars’ only points came on rally-points. E’town had runs of four points, and twice five points to dominate play.

In the final set, the Lady Cougars led just once, at 5-4, but they stayed close until late in the game. Trailing by just three, 14-17, a service error gave the ball back to E’town’s Rebecca Hinkle and she served out for the win.