Volleyball Plays Hoover to the Max in Opener
North Canton 31-21-25-14-15, Louisville 29-25-19-25-12
The Louisville Leopards Varsity Volleyball Team fell in a heartbreaker against the visiting North Canton 
Hoover Vikings 29-31, 25-21, 19-25, 25-14, 12-15. The match was the season opener for both squads.
Paige Haren led Louisville in scoring with 12 points & 1 ace serving and also recorded a game-high 51 assists. Georgia Kiko also threw down a game leading 18 kills on offense for the Leopards.
On defense, Savannah Miner had a team-high 14 digs and Kayla Meyers finished with a team leading 4 blocks for Louisville.
The Leopards came out of the gate strong in taking a 15-8 advantage in the first set. However, the Vikings rallied back with a 9-2 run to knot the game up at 17-17. Hoover continued their push and pulled ahead to a 21-19 advantage. But Louisville returned the favor with a 4-1 run to take a 23-22 advantage.
The two teams traded points back-and-forth for a span of fourteen consecutive serves. Hoover finally broke the 
run by scoring three straight points to win the set at 31-29.
Louisville bounced back in the second set by opening up a 13-6 lead and they would go up by as many as 8 points during the frame. The Vikings would rally back again, but get no closer than 20-18 and 21-19. However, the Leopards would take 4 out of the final 5 points to claim the set and tie the match at one apiece.
The two teams exchanged the next two games. Leading 13-12 in the third set, Hoover put together an 8-2 run to pull ahead 21-14. They would go on to take the set 25-19. Louisville answered back in the fourth set in dominating fashion. They opened up a 10-3 lead and rolled to 25-14 win to force a fifth and final set.
The Vikings scored 4 of the first 5 points of the final set. They placed several hits just inside the 
Leopards back line to aide the run. North Canton went on to take an 8-2 lead and then exchanged blows to pull ahead 12-7.
Louisville made things interesting by scoring four straight points to cut the deficit to a single point at 12-11. Kayla Cole and Brynn Guist keyed the run by tallying kills. Hoover responded by throwing down a kill of their own to make it 13-11. Then got a kind bounce of the net on the next serve, which went down as an ace. The Vikings would prevail 15-12 to take the set and the match.
Donate to Leopard Nation
The Leopards have now fallen in 6 of their past 7 meetings with North Canton, which includes the past 3 matches in the series at Louisville.
JV: Louisville 25-25, North Canton Hoover 19-12
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next travel to Lake to take on the Blue Streaks. JV is slated for 5:30 with Varsity following at 7:00 PM.
Photo Courtesy of Bob Burick
