Lexington Catholic has ranked foes ahead after volleyball tourney win over Scott
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- Lexington Catholic swept Scott 3-0 and advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal in Winchester.
- Avilez, Hall and Blackburn fueled late comebacks with key kills, digs and a serving ace.
- LexCath meets No.18 Ashland Friday; No. 1 Assumption looms as semis opponent.
There were some nervy moments for Lexington Catholic during Monday’s first round of the KHSAA State Volleyball Tournament, but they didn’t keep the Knights from cruising past 10th Region champion Scott with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-23, 25-22).
“We got a little chaotic there at times, but we pulled it together, and we knew that we could win,” senior hitter Payton Avilez said.
Relatively untroubled on its home court as a first-round host in the first set, Lexington Catholic trailed 20-18 in the second. But back-to-back diving digs by Ella Blackburn and Maddy Warner in the space of a second set up Finley Quinn’s pass to Avilez for a kill that tied it at 20-20.
A few minutes later, junior setter Charlotte Hall served an ace to put the Knights one set away from the state quarterfinals.
“We have a lot of talent on our team, and I believe we can do anything,” Hall said. “Our team chemistry really helps us stay together and win all these games.”
Despite falling behind 4-0 in the third set and trailing 13-10 at the midway point, the Knights rallied again with five straight points that included two Avilez kills to take a 15-13 lead. LexCath never looked back.
“The only people that are going to stop us, we’ve been saying, is ourselves,” LexCath coach Jeff Kaufmann said. “We did a little bit of that tonight. We had some rough spots. We weren’t passing well early on, especially in the beginning of the third set. Our serve receive was off, and then we just weren’t clicking on a lot of the timing plays. When those come in and when we can get them flowing, we’re unbeatable.”
The win marked coaches’ poll No. 10 Lexington Catholic’s first in the state tournament and advanced the Knights to Friday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinals match against No. 18 Ashland Blazer at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.
Ashland, the 16th Region champion, claimed its own sweep (27-25, 25-21, 25-21) over 13th Region champion Whitley County in other first-round action Monday.
“Ashland Blazer is stacked, and they’re coached well,” Kaufmann said.
Friday’s LexCath-Ashland winner will undoubtedly have its wake-up call at 11 a.m. Saturday against No. 1 Assumption, the 24-time state champion that has dominated the sport for four decades and won the past two state tournaments with ease. The Rockets face 13th Region Shelby County in Friday’s 11 a.m. quarterfinals.
Last year, Lexington Catholic got a taste of the level of play Assumption might bring when it faced Notre Dame, the state’s next-best girls volleyball program, in the first round. Though the Knights got swept by the 10-time state champion Pandas, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18, Kaufmann said his team drew a positive outcome from the experience.
“I learned we could play with them,” he said. “There were situations that a different decision, or somebody just reaching out, could have made a huge difference. … Coming away from last year, everybody said ‘We can do this. We can do this.’ We want to make sure that people are saying that for us, that we’re the ones that they’ve got to try to beat, not the other way around.”
Sizing up the field
Teams remaining in the state tournament field that were ranked in the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association’s final top 25 poll are No. 1 Assumption (37-4), No. 2 Notre Dame (30-7), No. 7 Bowling Green (38-3), No. 10 Lexington Catholic (32-4) and No. 13 North Oldham (25-11).
KHSAA Girls State Volleyball Tournament
First round at regional sites. The rest of the tournament is set for George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.
MONDAY’S FIRST ROUND
Apollo 3, Henderson County 1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20)
Ashland Blazer 3, Whitley County 0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-21)
Assumption 3, Mercy Academy 0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-18)
Bowling Green 3, McCracken County 0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20)
Lexington Catholic 3, Scott 0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22)
North Oldham 3, Elizabethtown 1 (25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-14)
Notre Dame 3, West Jessamine 0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-18)
Shelby Valley 3, Knott County Central 1 (25-19, 27-25, 22-25, 25-13)
FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
Shelby Valley vs. Assumption, 11 a.m.
North Oldham vs. Apollo, 1:30 p.m.
Ashland Blazer vs. Lexington Catholic, 5 p.m.
Notre Dame vs. Bowling Green, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY’S SEMIFINALS
Shelby Valley-Assumption winner vs. Ashland Blazer-Lexington Catholic winner, 11 a.m.
North Oldham-Apollo winner vs. Notre Dame-Bowling Green winner, 1:30 p.m.
SATURDAY’S FINAL
Championship game, 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 5:45 AM.
