Changing lineups on an 18-4 team is never what a coach wants to do, but Warren County High School volleyball coach Franklin Fisher had no choice when his team traveled to Grundy County Thursday.Playing without senior Kaitlin Lawrence, who won Fairest of the Fair and had to stay in town to fulfill her duties as pageant queen, the Lady Pioneers were able to pick up their 19th win of the season by defeating the Lady Jackets in straight sets.Warren County won 25-11, 25-16 and 25-18 as the Lady Pioneer senior class creeped within one win of 100 victories in their careers.Lawrence is part of the six-player senior class for Warren County, but she had to await word from home on how the Lady Pioneers fared against Grundy County.Coach Fisher inserted juniors Lauren Wilson and Kayla Brown in the starting lineup and Warren County didn’t miss a beat against the Lady Jackets.The play of the juniors was an encouraging sign for coach Fisher as the team continues its impressive season.“Kaitlin really wanted to play and we definitely like having her in the lineup, but I thought our girls did a good job of filling in for her,” said Fisher. “It was a chance for some of our younger girls to step up and play and they responded when we needed them.”Warren County didn’t waste time putting Grundy County away as seniors Blair Fisher, Caroline McKinley and Megan Dishman showed why they were named All-District 6-AAA performers the past two seasons.Fisher fed McKinley and Dishman at the net as the Lady Pioneers were able to find holes in the Lady Jacket defense with hard spikes. Fisher connected with McKinley 12 times as the senior duo has perfected their set-and-spike combination after four years of playing together.Fisher added four passes to Dishman in the middle and the lanky senior was able to pick her spots with an array of soft spikes.
Another one bites the dust