Shoes squeak as they scrape against the floor. Girls yell nonsense at each other. The ball collides with the open hand. Parents shout at the players. Student-led chants begin filling up the open space. The sharp whistle pierces your ears through the chaos. Coaches pace back and forth. Sounds of rumbles echo off the bleachers. These are only some of the things you witness if you attended Central Hardin Volleyball game this year.
The Lady Bruins, led by Coach Bill Rineker, had a great season this year, achieving a 35-6 record and bringing a region title back to Central. The season was filled with plenty of strong wins, broken records, coach achievements, personal achievements, and memorable moments. The team brought about a great sense of pride to this school with all that they accomplished.
“We couldn’t have had a much better season. I mean, it went pretty, pretty perfectly,” Rineker said.
To begin the season, Central traveled to Owensboro to compete in the Apollo Summer Slam from Aug. 23-24.They played in six games and won all six on route to win the tournament for the second year in a row. Central then returned home to play against district opponents Fort Knox and North Hardin, winning both games three sets to zero. Shortly after, the Lady Bruins attended the Elizabethtown Varsity Showcase, where they would fall 2-0 against a higher-ranked DuPont Manual, ending their win streak at nine games. Following this, the Lady Bruins faced off against North Oldham, losing 3-0 on sets.
Even after these few losses, Central got back on their feet by winning the next six games, 3-0 against Oldham County, South Warren, John Hardin, Thomas Nelson, Taylor County, and Holy Cross. The next match would be the first of many meetings against Central Hardin’s greatest adversary: E-town.
The E-town vs. Central match was a district showdown that showed the intensity of the rivalry between the two schools. Both came out firing, with senior opposite hitter Sadie Atcher leading the way for Central with 21 kills. E-town could only take the first set before the Lady Bruins fought to take the next three in order to win the first of many meetings between the two teams.
“We just knew that if we went in and played our game, we’d hopefully take out the win, and that’s what we did” senior setter Kati Vest said.
Not long after, Central traveled down to Lexington to compete in the Kentucky Challenge Tournament to take on teams all across the Bluegrass Central. There, the team defeated Great Crossings, West Jessamine, Scott County, Lexington Catholic, and Frederick Douglass. These wins helped Rineker achieve his 400th win as Central Hardin’s coach.
Yet again, it was time for the Lady Bruins to face rival E-town in a district showdown at Central. This time, the Lady Bruins would not allow E-town to take one set as they demonstrated their dominance by winning 3-0 on sets.
Central went on to continue their winning ways in the season by defeating South Oldham, Seneca, and South Warren, ll before hitting a setback in a 2-1 loss to McCracken County. They would again go on a winning streak, defeating Logan County, Male, Greenwood, Daviess County, and Green County before getting ready to enter the district tournament that would be hosted by John Hardin.
The Lady Bruins entered the tournament with the goal of claiming their fourth district title in a row. The road began against host John Hardin where Central would win 3-0 on sets against the district opponent. This win helped set up the rivalry game that was destined to be.
Once more, Central faced off against E-town in this match that would determine the winners of the sacred trophy. The result of the match, however, was one that shocked the entire gym and shattered Central’s dream for its fourth district title. E-town ended up winning three straight sets in what some would call an upset against a strong Central team. The players were speechless as they watched E-town celebrate on the court and snatch the district title away from them.
The fire of revenge was lit.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Rineker said. “I think it’s the best thing that ever happened, because it refocused us, and it got us to understand that, hey, we’ve got a lot of work left to do if we want to win Regions.”
After gaining this motivation, the Lady Bruins started preparing for the region tournament hosted in Green County, which held the best teams in the region. They would go into the tournament and immediately would face the strong Taylor County team that was able to force five sets where Central would win 3-2. The next opponent would be a Bethlehem team, which the Lady Bruins would beat 3-0 in straight sets to advance to the championship game where they would have one last matchup against E-Town.
This match showed how both teams had grown throughout the season, as they fought to represent their schools. The game began with both Central and E-Town keeping close with another as they neared the end of the first set with the Lady Bruins pulled ahead to win the set 26-24. This was thanks to a crucial block from senior Larkin Taylor and sophomore Kate Disselkamp, taking on E-town player Jessica Smallwood. The second set began with Central taking control early and keeping that lead until the end of the second set where they would win 25-13.
E-town took control early in the third set as they fought to avoid a sweep. They won the third set 25-20 to put the score at 2-1. The fourth set began with both teams fighting to take the lead away from one another with the Lady Bruins making progress early in the set and keeping the lead until the end of the set, where one last hit from Atcher bounced off an E-town defender and allowed the region title to fall under Central Hardin once again. Celebrations began as the team came together in jubilation as all their hard work finally paid off.
“The feeling was very, very surreal, as we had been working toward this moment for a while,” Vest expressed.
The next stage was the first round of the state tournament, where Central would draw against the top-ranked team in the state of Kentucky: Assumption. The match ended as quickly as it started, with Assumption sweeping Central in three straight sets to advance to the next stage of the state tournament. The Lady Bruins’ season ended in a loss on their home court with praise from all the fans who attended and got to watch this team play throughout the season.
Overall the season was a success in the eyes of many, as the team was able to capture a second straight region title against E-town. Vest broke the school record for single-season assists with 1079 and career assists with 2118. Senior libero Sam Nelson broke the school record for service aces with 99 in a single season. Atcher ended her high school career with 994 kills. The Lady Bruins did a great job fighting to uphold the reputation that Central has put forth in earlier seasons, and they accomplished all that they sought out to do as a team.
