Owls outshine Stars

Last fall, the Seymour volleyball team captured the sectional crown on someone else’s court. But this year, the Class 4A Sectional 15 was on the Owls’ home court at Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

The No. 9 Owls had the hardest way to go to win another sectional crown. After beating New Albany in the opening round Thursday, they defeated No. 13 Floyd Central, 25-22, 14-25, 25-23, 25-18, in Saturday’s semifinals to advance to the championship, where they met Bedford North Lawrence.

The Owls got past the Stars about four weeks ago in fine fashion, and in the title match, they had their way again, claiming a 25-8, 25-13, 25-16 win to advance to regional.

This win was special for Abby Speer, the Owls’ sole senior.

“It’s the best feeling,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team to back me up, and I feel like we did a great job pursuing the win. It was just that we had to keep working hard, and we can’t give up, and if we did give up, we would have lost to New Albany. The best thing about winning is that we did it on our home floor.”

Against Floyd Central, Seymour built an 18-9 lead in the first set before the Highlanders pulled within 18-14 and then 21-19. The teams traded points the rest of the way until Speer laid down a kill for set point.

Floyd Central was the more aggressive team in the second set, building leads of 5-1 and 17-7, and Seymour couldn’t recover.

Blocking was big for Seymour in the third set. The Owls’ second one gave them a 12-5 advantage, and Speer had two blocks late in the set to help her team take a 2-1 match lead.

Audrey Speer’s tip in the fourth set broke a 5-all score, and Seymour maintained the lead the rest of the way.

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