On Thursday, October 13, the Lady Titans faced off against the Memorial Tigers for the first round of volleyball Sectional 32, hosted at Gibson Southern. The Lady Titans went into the game with a record of 17-8 on the season and 10-2 for the conference, while the Tigers were 13-8 on their season and 5-4 for the conference. 

“The girls did really well in the first set, bringing momentum for the rest of the game,” head coach Emily Schmitt said. “Many small errors could’ve been prevented. I felt like the times we really lost hope in the game were when there was a huge point difference in a couple of sets. We were close in the last set, only losing by two, but we couldn’t hang.”

The Lady Titans had the thought of revenge on their minds after losing to the Lady Tigers during the regular season. 

“Going into the game, we felt pretty confident against our opponent,” junior Gabby Smitha said. “We knew that Memorial was going to be a tough team to beat.”

In the first set, the Lady Titans took control of the game, winning 25-18. They were able to keep a decent lead throughout the set.

“We came out with a hot lead to win the first set then lost our fire for the rest of the match,” Smitha said. “The entire team was disappointed that we lost, but we played the best that we could.”

After that first set, Memorial found its groove and won the next three sets, 25-16, 25-15, 25-23. In the last set, the game was going back and forth between the two teams, each trading the lead.

The Lady Titans ended their season 17-9, closing out the high school volleyball careers for the two seniors: Alexis Tucker and Rylee Johnson.

“Playing volleyball has taught me how to be a leader and a better teammate,” Tucker said. “Everyday you may or may not be involved, but if your teammate gets a kill, then you should cheer and pump them up. It has shown me that there are many ups and downs, but you will always have some positives to look forward to in the future.”

Evansville Memorial went on to win the Sectional 32 Championship, beating the Mt. Vernon Lady Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in three sets and then defeating the Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats in five sets during the championship that night.