The Cougars (22-1) will face the Rockets (21-4) in a Division IV regional semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday Princeton High School. The winner will play Roger Bacon or Mercy McCauley in the D-IV regional final at 2 p.m. Saturday at Princeton.
After winning both the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division and a D-IV district titles, the Cougars want to keep added trophies to the trophy case at Kenton Ridge.
“We always look at the numbers up on the banners in the gym and talk about leaving our own footprint on the floor,” said Cougars coach Robert Trainer. “We know all the girls that were here before us, running their camps and we know the girls that are coming behind us. The girls want to leave a lasting impression. They’ve got the hunger, the heart and the desire. I’m super excited to see what they’ve got these next couple nights.”
The Cougars beat CBC rival Bellefontaine 25-17, 25-13, 25-17 on Oct. 26 at Troy High School to claim their first district title since winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. Cougars junior Annie Fincham had a game-high 13 kills, senior Annie Shaffer had 12 kills and senior Elise Dunaway added nine kills in the victory. KR senior Devyn Williams had 24 assists and 11 digs and junior Olivia Everhart had 18 digs
Kenton Ridge needed four sets to beat the Chieftains in both of their regular-season matches.
“We put those numbers on the board and we wanted to do better and we did,” Trainer said. “Our swings were a lot better, we improved our hitting percentage and decreased Bellefontaine’s hitting percentage. Our girls played flawless and that’s what it’s going to take the rest of the way.”
The Rockets, the state runner-up in Division III last season, won the Greater Catholic League title for the first time since 2017. They beat another CBC squad Benjamin Logan 25-21, 25-13, 25-15 to advance to the regionals.
McNicholas has two of the top middle blockers in the GCL in sophomores Lilly Tierney (97 blocks) and Josie Mayfield (64 blocks). The Cougars also have three strong middle blockers in Dunaway, freshman Cali Arthur and sophomore JJ Davis.
“It’s going to be a lot of net play,” Trainer said. “I think they got two or three (6-foot players). They get a lot of blocks at the net, we get a lot of blocks, so whoever’s front row can get the touches so we can get some offense going is going to win that game I think.”
The key, Trainer said, will be a balanced offense. Fincham (349 kills) and Shaffer (315) lead the team in kills, while Davis (119), Dunaway (101) and Arthur (87) have also played key roles down the stretch, he said.
“We can spread the ball across the board,” Trainer said. “Early in the year everybody was looking for our outside hitters and now we’ve got some other hitters stepping up.”
The Cougars won 17 straight matches to open the season and held the top ranking in D-IV for four weeks until they lost to London on Oct. 1. McNicholas held the No. 1 spot the final two weeks of the state poll.
“When we got beat by London, we lost the No. 1 spot and McNicholas overtook us,” Trainer said. “Each week we continued to win and kept dropping in the polls. I told the girls to make this a statement game. These girls don’t know who we are, we’re coming from a little town, a little school in Clark County. We’re going to take this fun road trip down to Cincinnati and play some volleyball.”
The Cougars have had a lot of support from across the CBC and the community, he said.
“The girls are really feeding off of it,” Trainer said. “The energy is just super around here right now. We’re super stoked to get down there and have the opportunity to play for it.”
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