COVINGTON – Miami East traveled to Covington on Tuesday in a huge TRC battle as both teams entered the contest unbeaten at 6-0 in the league standings.
And the matchup lived up to the billing as it took five sets to determine the winner. It was Miami East who managed to come out on top by the scores of 26-28, 28-26, 17-25, 25-22, 9-15.
In front of a packed gymnasium, the first two sets took extra points for each team to escape with the win. Miami east won the first set 28-26 and Covington tied the match at 1-1 with a 28-26 win in the second set.
It appeared as though the visiting Vikings were taking control of the match with a 25-17 win in the third set, but Covington reclaimed the momentum by winning the fourth set 25-22 to send the match to a fifth and deciding set.
With a leg up on the TRC on the line, Covington took a 9-8 lead with a powerful kill by Carlie Besecker. But that would be the final point of the match for the Lady Buccs as Meg Gilliland took over for Miami East as the Vikings pulled away in the final set 15-9 to secure the victory.
Gilliland had a huge night for Miami East with 26 kills and 18 digs. Khalia Lawrence recored 11 kills, while Ava Prince had 35 assists.
For Covington, Nigella Reck recorded 21 kills and Carlie Besecker had 12 kills. Reck, Taylor Kirker, Reagan Lemp and Kearsten Wiggins combined to account for 42 of Covington’s 67 digs on defense, while Kirker also had 44 assists.
The loss drops Covington to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the TRC, while Miami East improves to 9-2 overall and 7-0 in the league.
Covington’s JV squad defeated previously unbeaten Miami East 25-12, 25-14. The Covington JV team moves to 9-1 (7-0).
Covington Stats:
Taylor Kirker – 44 assists, 3 aces, 1 kill and 18 digs.
Nigella Reck – 1 assist, 5 aces, 21 kills,1 solo block, 1 block assist and 11 digs,
Lauren York – 6 digs.
Ella Remley – 4 kills and 1 solo block.
Carlie Besecker – 1 assist, 1 ace, 12 kills, 3 solo blocks, 2 block assists and 9 digs.
Kearsten Wiggins – 2 aces, 2 kills, 1 solo block and 12 digs.
Reaghan Lemp – 1 assist, 2 aces and 11 digs.
Hailey Naff – 1 ace, 9 kills and 1 block assist.
