FLOYDS KNOBS — The Floyd Central volleyball team dropped the first two sets to No. 8 New Albany, but rallied to capture the final three frames and hand the Bulldogs their first loss of the season on Thursday night at Highlander Gymnasium, 21-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-12, 15-13.

“It feels good to finish a match against a good opponent,” Floyd Central coach Bart Powell said. “We’ve done it about three times this year where we’ve played a good match, but let the other team back in it. But I think we’re a young team and we grew up quite a bit tonight.”

The Highlanders (7-5) kept it close in the first two sets despite dropping both games. In the second set, Floyd Central led 23-22, but a missed kill attempt from the Highlanders’ Sydney Engle knotted it at 23. Two consecutive kills from New Albany hitter Caitlin Lilly closed out the set for the Bulldogs, 25-23. Lilly led all attackers with 23 kills.

The Bulldogs (8-1) led 15-12 after another Lilly kill in the third set. But behind the service of Jordan Alvey, Floyd Central rattled off eight consecutive points at one juncture to rally and capture the third set, 25-16.

New Albany coach John Breeding said that Floyd Central’s service succeeded in keeping his girls out of position in the receiving game, and that some hitting mistakes in the third and fourth sets did the Bulldogs in.

“To be able to win matches like this, you have to be able to execute, and we didn’t,” Breeding said. “We really had opportunities to win this match twice. We’ve got to be able to play 110 percent the whole match. I think we played two good games, but we came up short.”

After the Highlanders won the fourth set, the Bulldogs crept out to an 8-6 lead in the fifth behind two kills from Lilly and appeared ready to close the match out when Kelsey Guess blocked a Floyd Central kill attempt to take the lead to 13-11, just two points from victory.

Following a timeout from Powell, Floyd Central’s Gwyn Jones, a 6-foot-2 freshman hitter, had other ideas. Jones notched a block and two kills in the ensuing three points, and on the game’s final rally, Remi Bowman blocked a kill attempt by New Albany’s Nicole Jones to give the Highlanders the victory.

Gwyn Jones finished with 17 kills and six blocks, notching 10 kills in the final two sets. In offering praise for his whole squad, Powell singled out the freshman and Floyd Central senior defensive specialist Sarah Engle as being crucial.

“She played her heart out,” Powell said of Sarah Engle, who notched 22 digs and frustrated the New Albany attackers. “That’s probably the best match I’ve seen her play. That ought to give her a lot of confidence.

“We come out of that (13-11) timeout and got the pass to our freshman (Jones), and she puts it down. She has no fear — heck, she’s just a freshman.”

Floyd Central will travel to Louisville Holy Cross on Tuesday, while New Albany will play Martinsville in the Bedford North Lawrence Invitational on Saturday.



BOX SCORE

FLOYD CENTRAL    21 23 25 25 15

NEW ALBANY    25 25 16 12 13

Leaders

Kills — New Albany: Catlin Lilly 23, Nicole Jones 13, Alexis Lete 8; Floyd Central: Gwyn Jones 17, Sydney Engle 16, Jordan Alvey 14.

Blocks — New Albany: Lete 6; Floyd Central: G. Jones 6, Engle 5.

Assists — New Albany: McKenzie Prince 39; Floyd Central: Remi Bowman 38.

Digs — Floyd Central: Sarah Engle 22.