By JON WEBB
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW —
The Trojanettes lost to Monroe County 2-0 Monday night. But in Robin McMurtrey’s mind, the game was far from a defeat.
According to the Barren County coach, her team “served better, hit better and passed better” in a 21-25, 22-25 loss at BCHS.
“We were a whole different team,” she said. “This is a win in my mind.”
Perhaps not so much in Caylan Bybee’s brain. The 6’1 junior provided the final touch via spikes or tips on four Lady Falcons points in the opening game. Bybee also contributed four serving scores, including two aces.
“She can hit it from anywhere, not just from in front of the net,” McMurtrey said of Bybee. “She’s just a good player.”
But it would be Trojanettes — and their front-liner Kelsey Mitchell — who grabbed an early lead in the opening game. Monroe notched the first score of the contest on a botched Barren serve before Mitchell slapped a spike to hand possession back to the Trojanettes. That possession bounced to both sides of the net early, but two Mitchell serves, one Cameron Lile effort and a Haley Myers spike lifted Barren to a 5-2 lead.
The lead soon evaporated, though, thanks to eight consecutive Falcon points that gave Monroe a 10-5 advantage. A change in control and two Taylor Owen serves closed the gap 10-8 before the Lady Falcons embarked on another run that ballooned their lead to 15-8. Barren crawled within three at 18-15, but Monroe never allowed its opponent to inch closer, going on to a 25-21 win in the initial game.
The follow up proved more dramatic. Backed by a student section dipped in black body paint and emblazoned with letters that sometimes — depending on fluctuating seating arrangements — spelled out “BC Volleyball”, the Trojanettes overcame a 7-3 deficit and knotted things at 10-10. A four-score Monroe run briefly undid Barren’s work. On the final point of the run, Bybee blocked three consecutive Trojanette attempts to clear the net, handing the Lady Falcons a 14-10 lead.
Myers exacted revenge two possessions later. The senior landed four serves in a row, including one ace to give her team its first advantage since the second game’s opening point. Monroe notched two in a row to grab back the lead before a pair of Megan Harp serves, each exclamation-pointed by a Mitchell push and spike, respectively, set the score at 18-17 in Barren’s favor.
Unfortunately for the Trojanettes, it was the last lead they held. The Lady Falcons outscored the Trojanettes 7-5 in the game’s waning moments to cap a 2-0 win.
The loss is Barren’s fourth defeat in a row, and marks the only time the Trojanettes have scored 20 or more points in a game since falling to North Laurel in the championship match of the McCreary Central Invitational on Aug. 21.
Despite the team’s recent struggles, McMurtrey saw Monday’s game as a turning point. After watching Barren be blown out by Glasgow 9-25, 14-25 on Aug. 26, the coach decided to send a literal wake up call. She planned a 5:30 a.m. practice the next morning in which the team overhauled part of its strategy and style.
“That 5:30 practice helped a lot,” the coach said. “We’ve changed a lot of things in the last few days.”
The Trojanettes hope some of that change will result in a win when they travel to Hart County tonight for a 5:30 p.m. matchup. If the team continues to play like it did Monday, McMurtrey said, more wins should flow Barren’s way. Continued support from monogrammed fans would help as well.
“I loved this,” she said, motioning toward the student section. “If we could have this every night, we might be alright.”
