PREP VOLLEYBALL: Elizabethtown bounces back by beating John Hardin (08/20)

Jill Pickett

Elizabethtown's Mary Beth Russell battles John Hardin's Alyssa Gatlin at the net during Tuesday evening's match at Elizabethtown High School.

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Jill Pickett

John Hardin's Amanda Vuleta passes the ball across the net to waiting Elizabethtown during Tuesday's match at Elizabethtown High School.

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Jill Pickett

Elizabethtown's Kelly Morgan bumps the ball during Tuesday's match against John Hardin at Elizabethtown High School.

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By GREG CREWS gcrews@thenewsenterprise.com ELIZABETHTOWN — After suffering their most lopsided defeat in nearly two years on Thursday at the hands of Meade County, the Elizabethtown Lady Panthers got just what they needed on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers fell behind early, but regrouped and went on to beat the visiting John Hardin Lady Bulldogs, 25-20, 25-14 in their first 15th District match of the season. “This was definitely a win that we needed after Meade County,” Elizabethtown freshman outside hitter Mary Beth Russell said. “We’re always going to have that first match off, and Meade County was our match off. We got that out of our system.” Early in the first game, however, it didn’t appear to be out of Elizabethtown’s system. The Lady Bulldogs scored the first three points of the match and built an 8-1 lead behind the serving of senior setter Eishian Rodriguez and junior outside hitter Chelsea Vandermolen. Elizabethtown cut its deficit to six points (9-3), then Russell stepped behind the service line and led the Lady Panthers on an 8-0 run — during which she recorded three aces — to take an 11-9 lead. “We got way down, but one good thing that I didn’t see against Meade is the fact that we were able to come back from that big run they had to start off the match,” Elizabethtown coach Tim Hinkle said. “I wasn’t going to let it go very long, so I called a timeout at 3-0. They (John Hardin) still ran off several points, but the girls got focused.” Elizabethtown stretched its lead to 14-10 before the Lady Bulldogs clawed their way back, tying the match at 17-17. Five straight John Hardin errors, however, handed the Lady Panthers a 22-17 lead and they cruised to the win. “Volleyball is a game of momentum. One shanked ball or bad pass can throw you off,” John Hardin coach Kristi Wells said. “If you can’t learn to shake it off, your opponent is going to keep feeding off it, and if they’re smart, they will keep going at the same player. That’s kind of what happened to us. It just kept snowballing, and we called a timeout to calm them down, but the hole was too deep.” After four lead changes and nine ties, the second game was all knotted up at 10-10. From there, however, Russell’s serving once again took over. A kill by junior middle hitter Katie Meek gave Elizabethtown an 11-10 lead and sparked a 7-0 run, in which Russell recorded three aces. “In all of our matches so far, she has been a really big factor at the service line,” Hinkle said of Russell, who finished with six aces, three kills and one assist. “I don’t know if it is because she is a lefty, or if she has some movement on it, but her serve seems to give people a hard time.” With the lead in hand, Elizabethtown seemed to find its groove as it charged to victory. After making 19 unforced errors through the first 60 points of the match, the Lady Panthers (2-1 overall, 1-0 district) made just one in the final 24 points. “Everything started to click,” Russell said. “Kristen Todd didn’t start because she was sick, and when you take a player out of the rotation that you are used to having there, it takes a while to adjust. But by the end we were clicking a lot more.” Elizabethtown junior setter Kelley Morgan finished with 10 assists, one kill and one ace, while sophomore outside hitter Brittany Daniels notched two kills and two aces. Freshmen outside hitters Darian Ditto and Kimberly Morris chipped in with two kills apiece. Junior middle hitter Amanda Vuleta paced the Lady Bulldogs (0-2, 0-1) with three kills and one ace, while Vandermolen added two kills. “It’s early in the season and we are still trying to find our rhythm,” Wells said. “We did a good job at the very beginning, but we just had a hard time holding onto it.” Elizabethtown won the junior varsity match, 16-21, 23-21, 21-15 and the freshman match, 18-13, 18-14. Up Next: Elizabethtown plays at 15th District rival North Hardin at 7 p.m. Thursday. John Hardin hosts district rival Central Hardin at 7 p.m. Thursday.