Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School’s volleyball team ended a five-match losing streak, defeating visiting Union County, which is ranked fifth in Class 1A, 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25- 23) on Sept. 27.
The first set of the Sept. 27 match was tied at 14-14 before Keystone (10-7) scored four straight points with Kadence Carlton serving. Carlton recorded an ace during that span, while Kamryn Eatmon had a kill.
Union (7-7) failed to score a point while serving after the last four times it forced side-out. The Indians closed out the set with five straight points, including four with Eatmon serving. The Tigers failed to execute a successful pass off of any of Eatmon’s serves.
The Tigers led throughout most of the second set. They held a 6-4 lead before scoring four points with Addisyn Worrell serving. Two of those points came off Jaycee Davis kills.
Union later went up 18-12, scoring three points with Maegan Beatty serving. Caleigh Avery blocked an attack to score one point during that span.
Late-set struggles affected the Tigers. After two consecutive service errors by Union and one by Keystone, the Indians closed out the set with Della Boyette serving. Union had problems again with receiving and making passes off serves. Eatmon and Sarah Siebert took advantage of those miscues to score three points, while Siebert ended the set with a kill.
Keystone took a 7-3 lead in the third set, scoring five points with Carlton serving. Union eventually took a 16-13 lead when it scored six points with Sabrena Howard serving. Howard helped her own cause with an ace, while Davis had two kills.
A Kori Jennings ace and a Kiersten Shaw block helped the Indians later cut the Tigers’ lead to 18-17.
Howard forced three straight side-outs with kills for Union, but the Tigers committed service errors after the first two. They also failed to take advantage of the third when they couldn’t make a play off a Jennings dump.
It was 24-23 in favor of Keystone when Shaw ended the match with a kill.
Shaw and Siebert had seven and six kills, respectively, with each player also recording two blocks. Jennings had 20 assists to go along with five kills and four aces, while Eatmon had seven aces and four kills. Jules Padgett and Boyette had eight and five digs, respectively, with Boyette also adding two aces. Carlton had three aces.
Official stats for Union weren’t available by deadline.
The Indians entered the match off a 3-2 (25-20, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11) loss to visiting Baker County on Sept. 23. Padgett and Boyette had 25 and 20 digs, respectively, with Boyette also adding three aces. Siebert and Riley Barry had four and three blocks, respectively. Jennings had 34 assists and two blocks.
Keystone also got 16 ills and seven digs from Shaw, while Eatmon contributed eight kills, five aces and two blocks.
The Tigers entered the match off a 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-20, 27-25) win at Lafayette on Sept. 23. Official stats weren’t available.
