The Cougars returned five seniors from a squad that advanced to the district finals before falling in 2013, so hopes were high.
“You always hope that,” Saunders said after advancing to the Wilmington Division II regional finals Wednesday night. “But the last time we made it this far we were Division III. Even getting out of the sectional in D-II is a big deal, so this is icing on the cake.”
Even the ending of the match, a 3-1 win (25-22, 13-25, 25-20, 25-14) over The Plains Athens, caught the Cougars a bit off guard.
Senior Taylor Brown finished the night with the last of her 15 kills, but the celebration was delayed until the Cougars were positive the ball had hit the floor.
“I was just hoping we’d get the point,” Brown said. “This is amazing. I never thought this could happen. … I’m so proud of this team.”
The 2 p.m. showdown Saturday with perennial power Alter for a trip to the state final four didn’t come easy, however, for the Cougars.
The match featured big swings in momentum on both sides of the court.
Kenton Ridge jumped to a 7-2 lead in the first set but watched the lead shrink to 12-10. A kill by Brown gave the Cougars a 24-20 lead, their largest since the start of the set, before Lexi White recorded one of her five kills for the 25-22 win.
Athens jumped to a 7-0 lead in the second set, and Kenton Ridge never got closer the rest of the way. The match was tied 1-1.
“It is a game of momentum and it was in their favor big-time after that second set,” Saunders said. “We had to get the momentum to swing to our side and when that happened, we were lights out.”
The Cougars started slowly in the third set but overcame a 6-1 deficit to tie at 16-16 on an improvisational kill by Brown. Bailey Mounts followed with one of her 10 kills to give Kenton Ridge the lead as part of a 12-5 run that ended with an ace by Brown.
“We were playing scared and then it went away,” Saunders said. “We stopped playing to stay alive and started playing to win it.”
The squads were tied seven times through the start of the fourth set before Kenton Ridge took over.
Tied at 7-7, Brown started the run with an ace and Sierra Kirk added a kill as Kenton Ridge opened a 12-7 run and was never threatened in closing on a 18-7 run.
“This is the seniors’ last time playing together and we knew we had to step it up and play the best we can,” Brown said. “We started being more aggressive (hitting) because we knew our back row was covering for us, so we swung away.”
The Cougars got kills from six players, including six by sophomore Madison Sanders, and scrambled to keep points alive defensively.
“We had a lot of different personnel who went in and did different things,” Saunders said. “We had a lot that came in and did a great job to help us win.”
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