You often hear about the process when it comes to developing teams no matter the sport.
It has been more than like that for the Nicholas County Jackets. They have a head coach in Kim Denkins who knows what it takes to have success, as she played a key role in leading the 1993 Nicholas County girls basketball team to the state championship.
“I’ve told them since they were freshmen this is a special group of girls,” Denkins said. “They could beat the Harrison Counties. They never believed that until this year. It’s been really wonderful. They’re playing as a team.”
That fruition came to life this year as the Jackets (18-5) bested the Harrison County Fillies, 3-2 (25-27, 25-12, 25-15, 17-25, 15-12) coming back from down 5-1 and 12-9 in the fifth set to win it. Nicholas County scored the game’s final six points to win it.
“Like I told the girls all year long and even at the beginning of the day, I wanted us to try to win the first three sets,” Denkins said. “But if we didn’t, it would probably go down to the fifth set. Whoever wanted it the most was going to have to go and dig deep, and I think our girls did that.”
The run started with a Morgan Broderick kill and two Harrison County hitting errors to tie the set at 12 before a Fillie long hit gave the Jackets the lead for good at 13-12. Broderick then landed a kill out of a Harrison County timeout then tried to finish it with a hard shot in the middle, but Harrison County’s 6-2 middle blocker Audree Whitaker blocked it. Broderick recovered to dig up the block then the Jackets sent one outside to Loralee Orazan, who smacked the go route off blocks and out of bounds to give Nicholas County the win.
“I was really excited. I was just hoping to get it over the net and I got really lucky that (it went off the Harrison County blocker) out of bounds,” Orazan said. “That’s really it. We persevered.”
Nicholas County had big wins over the likes of Mason County and Wolfe County earlier in the season, but recently had problems against 38th District rivals Harrison County and Pendleton County. They won all three games against the Cats this year, including the district semifinals, to snap a 13-game losing streak in the series dating back to Oct. 14, 2019.
Prior to this season, Nicholas County had taken just one set in 42 meetings against Harrison County. They took another in a 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-9) defeat in Cynthiana on Aug. 28. Broderick did not play as a result of an injury, but that allowed other hitters to develop.
The breakthrough against the Fillies then took place on Oct. 6 as the Jackets beat them for the first time in program history, 3-2 (22-25, 26-24, 27-25, 23-25, 15-10) in Carlisle. Broderick made a huge difference in that game with 18 kills.
Broderick may lead the team with 200 kills, but balance has been a key to the Jackets tying the school record for wins in a season. Senior outside hitter Kylie Earlywine has 158 kills and Orazan has 135. Sophomore middle/outside hitter Danica Amburgey leads the team in blocks with 27 solo and six assisted and has also taken some big swings for the Jackets.
Senior libero Sadie Vice may lead the team with 254 digs, but six players have at least 134 on the season. Denkins knew she had options at setter and decided to employ the 6-2 with senior Mackenzie Davenport and junior Ali Reid, who have 237 and 230 assists, respectively, for Nicholas County.
“We’ve worked together all our years (playing volleyball together) and we’ve connected,” Davenport said. “We know where our passes are going, what (the hitters) want and what they need.”
In the district championship game, Broderick pounded out 29 kills with Earlywine recording 15 and Orazan nine. Broderick also had two solo blocks and 26 digs with Vice recording 32 digs.
“You just have to watch the hitter, watch where their hands are going and go for everything,” Vice said. “Even if you know you’re not going to make it, you know you might. Dive for it anyway.”
Broderick, Vice, and Reid gained some valuable experience playing for Alpha Performance volleyball club in the spring. Broderick played on the top A.71 17s team.
In the district championship game, Nicholas County had a chance to take the first set. However, Harrison County senior setter Lexie Highlander made a great diving save on a Broderick hard hit to keep the play alive and the Fillies ultimately took the set. Harrison County forced the game into a fifth set after Nicholas County took care of business in the second and third sets.
“We’re just saying if we’ve come this far and we’ve never done it before so who’s to say keep going,” Broderick said. “If we keep pushing and working together, I think we can do anything.”
The Jackets take on Calvary Christian (23-7) on Monday in the 10th Region quarterfinals at 6 p.m. at George Rogers Clark.
