For the eighth time in nine seasons the Logan County Lady Cougars volleyball team advanced to the Fourth Region finals.

This year, perhaps more than any other, getting to that final round was the hardest it has been in a long time. They had to face their up and coming rivals Bowling Green Lady Purples just a for a chance to take on the Lady Gators of Greenwood.

And that semifinals match between the Lady Cougars and Lady Purples was one for the ages.

In the first game, the Lady Purples jumped all over the Lady Cougars, sprinting out to a 6-2 lead before LCHS knew what hit them. It seemed that the Lady Purples were ready for the match and that the Lady Cougars were coasting and already looking ahead to the Greenwood game. A quick timeout fired up the Lady Cougars and out of the timeout the Lady Cougars returned to form tying up the game at 11 before LCHS took the lead 12-11. But the Lady Purples were ready to prove something to themselves and anybody watching that they weren’t going to take a backseat again. They clawed and battled with the Lady Cougars all the way down to the wire and ended up edging LCHS in game one 25-23.

With their season hanging in the balance the Lady Cougars faced a do or die game two.

In game two the Lady Cougars and Lady Purples played even until it was 11 all. Then the Lady Purples started to exert a measure of control and were four points from putting the Lady Cougars away with the score reading 21-16.

Down that much the Lady Cougars roared to life. Fighting, clawing, scrapping, they overwhelmed the Lady Purples to tie it up at 22 all. With the score tied the Lady Purples tried to hold off the charging Cougars, but would fold and fall 25-23 in game two.

“I was real pleased the way we came back against Bowling Green,” LCHS head coach Steven Lyne said. “To come back like they did, that showed a lot of character.”

In game three the Lady Purples still had a little left in the tank, but the Lady Cougars were hitting their stride. With the score at 15-13 with Bowling Green in the lead, the Lady Cougars overtook and then struck the death blow with seven unanswered points. With the score now 20-15 in Logan County’s favor Bowling Green self destructed and the Lady Cougars advanced to the finals with a 25-19 victory in game three and a 2-1 victory (23-25, 25-23, 25-19).

Now after an exhausting and exciting match against the Lady Purples the Lady Cougars faced their nemesis in Greenwood for a chance to go to state and a region championship. Game one went easily to the Lady Gators 25-14.

But in game two the Lady Cougars did something that nobody in the region had done all season. They held a lead and had the Greenwood Lady Gators scrambling staring at a 6-2 deficit.

But the two big hitters for Greenwood were just too much for Logan County as they would eventually fall in the second game 25-14 and ending their season to Greenwood once again.

“Against Greenwood, we were just overpowered, they got some really good athletes and their size was really hard to compete with,” coach Lyne said.

The Lady Cougars will have to settle for a runner-up trophy again and will lose five athletes due to graduation in Jessica Anderson, Kate Brooks, Jennifer Bryant, Kaitlyn Howard and Taylor Oates.

“Overall I was pleased with the girls,” coach Lyne said. “We are graduting five girls, we’re losing some good guns and some good blockers, but we got some good players here and some good players coming up.”

With a solid core of athletes in Madison Abbott, Victoria Cates, Rebecca Dezarn and Rachyl Miller and some young talent coming up, the future is as bright as ever for the Lady Cougars and perhaps next year is the year they finally step out of Greenwood’s shadow.