The Whiteoak Lady Wildcats hosted the Ripley Lady Blue Jays on Thursday evening in Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC) volleyball action. The Lady Cats pulled out the victory three game to one after dropping the first game.

Whiteoak was led in serving by Hannah Maynard who had eight service aces on the night. Katie Ames led the Lady Cats with 26 assists and Macy Knoblauch led the team with 14 kills.

Ciara Maynard led Whiteoak defensively with four solo blocks on the night.

The Lady Cats fell to the Lady Blue Jays in the first game of the match by a score of 25 – 20. The second game appeared to be slipping away from Whiteoak as Ripley ripped off five straight points to take a 25 – 24 lead. However, Knoblauch refused to let her team lose and recorded three straight points to secure the game for the Lady Cats.

The third game was not as close as the 25 – 16 final score would indicate as the Whiteoak girls were forcing the team from Ripley to make spectacular plays just to register a point.

The intermission between game three and game four must have lit a fire in the Lady Cats as they opened the game with Baylee Carey registering seven straight points on serves. Knoblauch was responsible for closing out this game as well and she did not disappoint registering the final six points for the Lady Cats to secure the win.

The victory improves the Lady Wildcats overall record to 2 – 5 and 1 – 3 in the SHAC.

Whiteoak head coach Katie Pollard was concerned for her team in the first game, “It’s hard to play against a team that doesn’t always bump, set and spike. We really needed to get out of that first one.”

“Our second game being close at 27 – 25 really woke our girls up for the third and fourth set. Tonight we had to adjust to the type of play, once we did that you could see them get excited about the game.”, said Pollard.

Whiteoak will be back in SHAC action on September 13 when they host the Greyhounds from Manchester.

Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.