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By John Henson

Contributing Sports Writer

The Bell County Lady Cats hadn’t been challenged in rolling to six blowout district victories during the regular season and one in the opening round of the 52nd District Tournament.

They were in the 52nd District Tournament finals on Tuesday at Harlan County High School.

The host Lady Bears won both the second and third sets with a chance to repeat as district champs with one more win, but 6-1 senior Gracie Jo Wilder took over at that point and Bell closed out a hard-fought 25-21, 26-28, 21-25, 25-14, 15-7 win.

“Harlan County gave such a great effort. They are a very good and well-coached team,” Bell County coach Shawn Fultz said. “It was a tremendous game. I thought the momentum shifted back to us in the fourth set.”

Wilder played a massive role in the momentum shift as she had three kills as Bell scored the first four points of the set and stayed in control. Wilder and sophomore Kari Lamb, a 6-3 sophomore, dominated the net in the fifth set, while Michaelyn Dye and eighth grader Emma Winkler had aces in building a 9-3 lead. The Lady Bears also had a couple of costly serves into the net as Bell finished off the victory.

“Gracie signed to play basketball at Tusculum, but I’ve always told her she’s just as good in volleyball,” said Fultz, who has led the 31-6 Lady Cats to a school record in victories each of the past four years. “I’m very proud of all these girls. They have worked tremendously hard.”

Harlan County fell to 18-9 with the loss but likely played its best match of the season with players diving all over the floor and showing much more intensity than in the two previous losses to Bell County in the regular season.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our girls tonight,” Harlan County coach Christina Jones said. “Everyone played great.”

Wilder led the Lady Cats with 30 kills, 17 digs, four blocks, three assists and one ace. Winkler had 29 assists, 17 digs and three aces. Nevaeh Allen added 20 assists, eight digs and three kills. Lamb had 19 kills, two aces, two digs and seven blocks. Kamryn Burnett contributed 31 digs, six kills, two assists and one ace. Dye contributed 11 digs, four aces, two kills and two assists. Abbi Middleton had 11 digs and three assists. Savannah Phipps added 14 digs.

Savannah Hill led the Lady Bears with 29 assists, 27 digs and one ace. Kalista Dunn added 25 digs, 10 kills, four aces and three assists. Ashton Evans had 20 digs, 15 kills and five aces. Kylee Hoiska contributed 11 digs, four kills, one block and one assist. Lesleigh Brown had 10 digs and four aces. Destiny Cornett added seven digs and five kills. Ashlynn Williamson had six digs.

The lead changed hands numerous times in the first set Lamb started a 6-0 run with a kill and ended it with a block. HCHS cut the deficit to 23-31 on a Dunn kill, but Bell scored the final two points.

The second set was tied at 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 as Hoiska and Evarts continued to answer big plays by Bell with bit plays of their own. Evans closed the set with consecutive aces to pull the Lady Bears even.

Down 9-7 in the third, Harlan County reeled off seven straight points with Brown serving. Bell struggled with mistakes in the set and Dunn took over for the Lady Bears with four kills down the stretch, including the set-winning point.

Both teams advance to the 13th Region Tournament, opening Saturday at noon at Lynn Camp High School.

The Lady Bears defeated rival Harlan 25-7, 25-11, 25-7 Monday evening to advance to the finals. Harlan ended the season with a record of 3-21.

Savannah Hill set up most of the Lady Bears’ points with 29 assists, while adding five aces and three digs.

Kylee Hoiska had seven aces, six kills, four digs, one block and one assist. Kalista Dunn had 10 kills, with six digs, three aces and one assist. Ashton Evans also had 10 kills, with two digs, one ace and one assist.

Destiny Cornett also had 10 kills with one block and one dig. Ashlynn Williamson added three digs and one assist. Lesleigh Brown had two aces and one dig.

Mallory McNiel led the Lady Dragons with 10 kills and one assist. Taylor Hall had seven digs, one ace and two assists. Tess Bryson had five digs and two assists. Kendyll Blanton added five digs, one ace, one assist and one kill. Annie Hoskins contributed four digs, two kills and one assist. Kaylee Roark had three digs, two kills and one assist. Ava Nunez added three digs and one kill.

Harlan ended the season with a record of 3-21.