Back-to-back champs: Dunbar fends off Great Crossing for 11th Region volleyball title
Down 20-17 in the fourth set and in jeopardy of ceding all of the 11th Region volleyball championship match’s momentum to Great Crossing on Thursday, Paul Laurence Dunbar coach Jenni Morgan called a timeout and reminded her team who they are.
“I told them they’ve been here before,” she said. “They have been in these situations, and they’ve gotten themselves out of these situations all year. And this game can’t be any different.”
Dunbar responded by winning the next three points to tie the set 20-20 on kills by Delaney “DJ” Gash and Mya McDowell and a block at the net by setter Isabela Haggard.
Both Great Crossing and Dunbar each took the lead twice over the next eight points. There were four more ties.
During that stretch, huge plays by Gash, the senior Akron commit and 11th Region player of the year, helped give Dunbar the lead and made Great Crossing the chaser.
“DJ is player of the year for a reason,” Great Crossing coach Adam Ivetic said of Gash. “Everybody in the gym knows it’s going there, but what do you do to stop it? We tried about everything we could.”
First, Gash blasted a kill down the line to tie the game at 22. Then she got a block that Great Crossing couldn’t make a play on to put the Bulldogs up 23-22. Moments later, a cross-court kill by Gash gave Dunbar its first championship point at 24-23.
With the set tied once again at 24, Gash delivered an incredible hit from well behind the attack line that looped onto Great Crossing’s baseline for a 25-24 Dunbar lead and another championship point.
“It was a few big plays — it was a big swing and a big block,” Gash explained. “We know that they’re a very big momentum-based team, so when it gets like that all we can do is play our game. If we play our game we can switch the momentum.”
McDowell struck the final blow to give Dunbar the 3-1 win (25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24) and the Bulldogs’ second consecutive 11th Region title. Both came against Great Crossing, the team that beat Dunbar for the 2021 region crown.
Playing on Dunbar’s home court, the Warhawks (32-3) battled back after dropping the match’s first two sets. The 25-20 loss in the first was marred by two rotation violations that Ivetic attributed to a “handwriting issue.” It cost Great Crossing two consecutive points just as the championship was getting under way.
“That’s a tough way to start the match,” Ivetic said. “I’m really proud of my kids for not letting that get to them. They battled back from some crazy stuff.”
Great Crossing got back into the match by rallying from 22-20 down in the third set to win it 25-23. When Dunbar took an 8-2 lead in the fourth, the Warhawks charged back again by winning nine of the next 11 points. Great Crossing extended its fourth set lead to three points twice, the last bringing on Dunbar’s timeout and the drama that followed.
Gash was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“It’s great fun. It’s my senior year. It’s our last time out there,” Gash said of how it felt to repeat as region champs. “I know me and the other two seniors had an amazing time out there, and we’re ready to go to state.”
Dunbar (33-7), ranked No. 3 in the final Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association poll of the regular season, will play at No. 13 West Jessamine (30-9), the 12th Region champion, on Monday for the right to advance to the last three rounds of the state tournament to be held at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester next Friday and Saturday.
11th Region All-Tournament Team
Sophie Dufour, Franklin County; Reese Collins, Sayre; Addie Lowe, Lexington Catholic; Lindsey St. John, Madison Southern; Ananiah Huguely and Camille Case, Madison Central; Addison Jarvis and Torii Starks, Frederick Douglass; Emily Erwin, Katherine Rush and Libby Erwin, Great Crossing; Mia Telechbush, Isabela Haggard, Mya McDowell and Delaney “DJ” Gash (MVP), Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Volleyball State Tournament
All times local to site. Games listed in bracketed order.
Monday at host schools
7 p.m.: Central Hardin (36-4) at Mercy (20-20)
7 p.m.: Johnson Central (29-4) at Boyd County (32-6)
7 p.m.: Assumption (32-5) at Oldham County (24-12)
6 p.m.: Whitley County (34-2) at Wolfe County (25-11)
6 p.m.: Meade County (22-4) at Logan County (24-12)
Time TBA: Paul Laurence Dunbar (33-7) at West Jessamine (30-9)
7 p.m.: McCracken County (26-11) at University Heights (36-2)
7 p.m.: Notre Dame (30-5) at Campbell County (19-13)
Friday at George Rogers Clark in Winchester
Quarterfinals at 11 a.m., 1:30, 5 and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday at George Rogers Clark in Winchester
Semifinals at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Championship at 7:30 p.m.
