WINCHESTER—Occasionally, when you end up with something you don’t want, you find out you’re glad you got it. Pencil in Montgomery County High School volleyball coach John High on that list. During the regular season his Lady Indians won two out of three matches with Clark County and in the three matches Montgomery County won seven of the 10 sets that were played and the overall point total favored the Tribe 221-188. But because Clark County won the final match they played during the regular season the Lady Cards ended up with the No. 1 seed. That No. 1 seed automatically put Clark County into the regional tournament because the teams are in a three-team district with Bourbon County. So the Lady Indians had to play a semifinal round match against Bourbon County last Monday. But Montgomery County prevailed in that match and earned the right to play Clark County again. “I’m really glad we had to play Bourbon County rather that sitting and waiting for the championship,” High said. “I think we were a little flat against Bourbon County and getting a chance to play them had us ready for tonight.” Just how much that played into last Tuesday night’s 40th District final will never be known, but the Lady Indians were ready for the Lady Cards as they pulled off a four-set victory to win their second straight district crown and their ninth in the past 11 years. With the win, the Lady Indians advanced to this week’s 10th Region Tournament at Scott High where they opened against Pendleton County on Tuesday night. The tournament opened up Monday night with Clark County defeating Harrison County 21-25, 25-13, 25-13 and 25-15 and the pre-tournament favorite Scott High downing Bracken County 25-12, 25-6 and 25-12. Mason County and Campbell County were in the same bracket with Montgomery County and Pendleton County with the semifinals of the tournament set for Wednesday night with Clark County and Scott meeting at 6:30 p.m. and the Tuesday night winners playing at 7:30 p.m. The championship match is slated for Thursday at 7 p.m. Montgomery County won the opening two sets against Clark County 25-23 and 25-17 before Clark County came back to take the third set 25-21. The Lady Indians finished things off with an impressive 25-14 victory in set number four of the best of five series. The opening set was close all the way with Clark County taking a 17-16 lead. But Montgomery County came back with sophomore Macy McCoy on the service line. McCoy served up three straight winning points as the Indians moved in front 20-17 and they were in control the rest of the way. Montgomery County never trailed in the second set and essentially put the game away when they held a 12-8 lead. Senior middle blocker Hannah Spence started a run of points with a kill and then made a great block for a point sandwiched around a pair of service winners by senior setter Bella Kammerer. “Bella’s really alert at finding the soft points in a team’s service defense,” said High. “She’s proof you don’t have to be overpowering to be a very good server.” That run stretched the lead to 16-8 and the Cardinals were never able to close the gap. Freshman Janna Godby had a nice game serving. She had a pair of aces and another deep serve led to a kill by sophomore outside hitter Haley Buck. “Haley’s going to be more consistent as she matures in this sport but she’s really powerful and some of her kills can really change the complexion of a game,” High noted. “She did that for us several times tonight.” After posting the 25-17 win the Lady Indians may have been a little complacent and Clark County surged ahead late in the set behind the serving of junior libero Vernonica Worsham. She carried her team from a 19-18 lead out to a 24-18 lead with five service winners in a row. McCoy made a great dig to keep a point alive and then found an empty spot in the Cardinal rotation on the return to keep things alive at 24-21 but then 6-4 sophomore middle blocker Elizabeth Hardiman finished things off with a kill. The fourth set was close early but the Lady Indians were able to start pulling away midway through with junior defensive specialist Chelsea Hawkins serving. Hawkins had made a number of key digs in the match and then she served four straight winning points, two of them aces, to push Montgomery County out to a 17-11 lead. Clark County was never closer than five points the rest of the way and senior Aiyanna Jones had an ace late in the set which ended with Hawkins blocking a shot at the net for the 25-14 victory. Senior hitter Bailey Faulconer, junior defensive specialist Kayla Godby and sophomore defender Morgan Duncan also had key moments for the Lady Indians. “We got key plays from everyone that went into the lineup,” High noted. “This is a team sport and we’ve been doing a better job late in the season in getting the ball from our backline, to Bella (Kammerer) to set things up for Buck and Spence on the front line.”The win improved MCHS record to 21-9 going into regional.