Showing off the wealth of talent historically reserved for the state’s private-school programs, the Henry Clay High School volleyball team made history Saturday night.
Hallie Shelton posted a match-high 18 kills and the Blue Devils never trailed in a dominating 25-15, 25-19, 25-17 victory over Mercy in the semifinals of the state tournament at Valley.
Henry Clay became the first school from Lexington and just the second public school ever (Greenwood in 2011) to reach the championship match since the inception of the state volleyball tournament in 1979.
“It’s awesome,” Henry Clay coach Dale Grupe said. “I’ve been doing this for 23 years now, so this is really special to get there and to do it this way by beating Mercy in the semifinals.”
The No. 4-ranked Blue Devils (37-6) will face No. 1 Sacred Heart (39-4) in Sunday’s 2 p.m. final. Sacred Heart defeated No. 8 North Oldham 25-13, 25-21, 25-22 in Saturday’s other semifinal.
* Henry Clay-Mercy: The No. 3 Jaguars (32-11) had rallied from a two-set deficit to beat the Blue Devils on Oct. 10, but Grupe had a feeling his team could turn the tables Saturday.
“The team decided it wasn’t going to happen this time,” Grupe said. “They were even saying that in the huddle. Usually you don’t want to say those kind of things in the huddle like, ‘Hey, don’t do this.’ But they just came out and did it.”
Shelton was solid from the start, getting five of her kills in the first set. Shelton (Western Kentucky) is one of five Henry Clay players who have committed to NCAA Division I schools, joining Emma Yarber (Western Michigan), Darby Music (Western Kentucky), Kaitlyn Hord (Penn State) and Myana Carter (Oakland).
Mercy stayed close with Henry Clay in the second set and pulled within 21-18 on Jayme Scott’s ace. But the Blue Devils scored four of the next five points to move a set away from victory.
Scott had 13 kills to lead a Mercy team playing without sophomore starter Lauren Myrick and junior reserve Olivia Stanfield because of injuries. But Jaguars coach Matt Thomerson said the injuries weren’t an excuse for the loss.
“(Henry Clay) played a lot more balanced tonight,” he said. “In the past it was just stop their outside hitters and their middles were going to be non-existent. When you can’t find a way to get them out of their system and they feed everybody a ball, that makes a lot more holes for us.”
Henry Clay jumped to a 16-5 lead in the third set and cruised the rest of the way.
* Sacred Heart-North Oldham: Paige Hammons had 16 kills to lead the Valkyries over the Mustangs (29-10).
For Sacred Heart coach Brett Versen, it was a bit of a reunion as he served as North Oldham’s coach in 2014 and 2015 before taking the Valkyries job.
“I’m glad they played really well,” Versen said of facing his former team. “They didn’t back down or play scared. They played to win. They have a lot of young talent, and they’re going to do a lot of great things coming up.”
Kaelin Gentile and Abigail Westenhofer added nine kills apiece for Sacred Heart. Madison Clements and Brooke Hammons both had eight kills to lead North Oldham.
Sacred Heart will seek its second state title when it meets Henry Clay in Sunday’s final. The Valkyries beat the Blue Devils 25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22 on Oct. 11.
“Talk about a team playing with a lot of confidence, and that’s definitely (Henry Clay),” Versen said. “They have a lot of weapons, and we’re going to have to be ready to get after it.”
In Saturday’s quarterfinals:
* Jayme Scott had 11 kills and seven digs and Abby Hans added 10 kills as Mercy defeated No. 16 Greenwood 25-11, 25-16, 25-16. Alexa Davis paced Greenwood (32-9) with six kills.
* Madison Clements, Brooke Hammons and Addison Foote each had 10 kills as North Oldham defeated West Jessamine 25-15, 25-15, 25-16. Tess Perdue led the Colts (31-9) with eight kills.
* Paige Hammons had 18 kills and Lauryn Bennett added 14 to lead Sacred Heart to a 25-13, 25-16, 25-15 victory over No. 19 Apollo (34-6). Delaney Rideout led Apollo with nine kills.
* Jessica Sunnenberg, Hallie Shelton and Sierra Gray had eight kills apiece as Henry Clay defeated Raceland 25-10, 25-9, 25-6. Emily Bryant paced Raceland (30-5) with five kills.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes @courier-journal.com.