The Christian County Lady Colonels advanced to the District 8 Volleyball Tournament finals for the sixth straight year on Tuesday night at Lyle Dunbar Gym.
But the upstart University Heights Academy Lady Blazers made them work for it.
Fourth seed UHA took the opening set 30-28 in a see-saw, emotional start to the match.
However, the Lady Colonels’ senior leadership took over and Christian County rolled to three straight wins 25-17, 25-14, 25-8.
In the first set, both teams looked like they would take control with UHA leading as much as 16-12 and Christian County battling back to take a 24-22 advantage.
The rest of the way, the Lady Colonels used strong starts to each set and were never challenged.
UHA was led by Gretchan Durham with two blocks, 22 assists, and two aces. Meanwhile, Niyona Brown had six kills and a block and Megan Long had eight kills and four aces. Ava Crawford had five kills and five digs and Cassidy Keller also had five digs.
Christian County (18-16) did not provide statistics from the match.
The Lady Colonels move on to Thursday night’s 6 p.m. championship game. They will face defending district and region champion Heritage Christian Academy, who held off Fort Campbell 3-1 in the second semifinal Tuesday night.
The district championship will be a rematch of the 2024 title match, which HCA won 3-1. The Lady Colonels have won both matchups with the Lady Warriors this season.
UHA ends its season at 11-22.
Photos by Joe Wilson