Alice Lloyd Volleyball hangs tough, defeats Crown College in five sets

Pippa Passes, KY: The Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles would have to go the distance, but made the big plays when it mattered in defeating the Crown College Crusaders (TN) in an exciting 5-match victory. 

In game 1, the home club jumped out to an early lead at 10-4. From there, they would refuse to let the Crusaders gain any ground as they pulled away for the 25-17 victory.

Game 2 saw the Bluegrass ladies play their best as they opened the set with an 8-1 burst. From that point, the blue and white kept the pedal floored and raced away for the big 25-11 victory.

For those anticipating an easy sweep, game 3, was do-or-die for the Tennessee team, and they took a quick 4-0 lead. Alice Lloyd answered with a run of their own to gain a short 7-6 advantage.

However, Crown turned up the pressue and raced back, eventually going on top, 20-16. From there, they maintained their pace and inched ahead, 24-18. At this juncture, the Lady Eagles rolled off five-condrvutive points to get within one point, 24-23, but the next play saw them committ a costly service error, and hand the "W" to Crown

Game 4 went from bad to worse for the hometown team as CC opened with a massive 13-3 blitz to take command. To there credit, the Bluegrass ladies responded with a 11-3 blast of their own to get within a duece, at 16-14.

A 7-2 flurry from the Crusaders had them on the brink of victoy at 23-16, only to see the home team make it interesting by chipping away once more at the disadvantage. Unfortunately, a kill gave CC a 25-20 win, forcing a fifth set.

In Game 5, the pressure was on, and the play was fierce. The lead would change hands five times before the scoreboard showed 8-8. From that point, ALC inched ahead 11-9 then the squads traded points until Lady Eagle Christa Amburgey gave the Caney Creek crew what they craved by unloading a kill to bring the 15-12 victory to the eastern Kentucky faithful.

 For the match, the hosts led in kills (61-45), assists (56-45), and service aces (10-8), while the Crusaders led in digs (105-70). Individually for the Lady Eagles, Kyleah Ward, Callie Butler,and Taylan Hoskins led the club with 13, 11, and 11 kills. Gracie Gibson (24) led in digs while Peyton Taylor led with 49 assists and 4 big aces. 

With the win, Alice Lloyds record goes to 10-4, while Crown falls to 3-2.