Koester, clutch plays lead women's volleyball to season-opening win

GEORGETOWN, Ky. - Aubry Koester came out in all-conference form and the Midway women's volleyball team made a string of critical, late-game plays to open 2024 with a 25-18, 17-25, 25-16, 25-21 win at Georgetown Thursday night.

Koester led all players with 15 kills and three service aces and also made 14 digs, leading the Eagles to their fourth-consecutive, season-opening win.

After falling behind 7-4 early in the opening set, Midway put together a 7-0 run, with five of its points coming via Tiger errors. Georgetown rallied to get within 21-18, only for the Eagles to score the final four points, a stretch highlighted by a Koester kill and Blair Riney ace.

The Tigers were much more efficient in set two, hitting .393 with 15 kills, before struggling again in the third, where their negative-0.27 percentage helped Midway break open a 12-12 tie by scoring 13 of the set's final 17 points.

Victory looked to be certain when Koester had two aces and a kill in a four-point span to lift the Eagles to an 11-8 lead in the fourth set. But it was Midway sloppiness that would allow the Tigers to take a 16-14 lead, with six of their eight points in that rally coming off Eagle errors.

But that quickly gave way to a 4-0 Midway run and an 18-17 lead off a Paige Miles ace. Things went back and forth before a huge play at the net by Meghan Adams and Marinna Liedle essentially sealed the win.

With the Eagles up 22-21, Georegtown's Gareth Bruce looked to be in prime position to deliver a tying kill, only for Adams and Liedle to deny her with a perfectly timed block. Liedle then recorded the last of her team-high 18 assists, finding Koester and Adams for consecutive kills that proved to be the final points.

Miles added 17 assists and 11 digs. She was one of three Eagles with double-digit digs, with Anju Sugiya leading the way with 17.

The Eagles have six days off before partaking in another in-state road game when they travel to the University of the Cumberlands Aug. 28.

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