Harrison girls volleyball birthday buddies lead four-set win against Central Catholic

LAFAYETTE — Harrison volleyball junior setter Jillian Deno moved a step quicker and her sets were met with shots zipped across from her main target in outside hitter Della Bossung.

The two were in sync with one another. They both also shared a birthday on Thursday night

Both birthday players were locked in. Deno set 38 assists while Bossung slammed 14 kills to lead Harrison to a four set victory over Central Catholic 25-17 25-15 23-25 25-16.

"It's just fun to eat treat together on our birthdays," said Bossung whose parents brought postgame chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for both teams.

A well-rounded effort for Harrison (4-3) with juniors opposite Mak Ketterer and Katya Hupy each adding 11 kills while libero Grace Klemme led the back row with 18 digs.

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"We passed the ball well and put the ball away when we needed to," Deno said. "When we dug ourselves into a hole, we bounced back really well."

Central Catholic (0-1), the 2023 Covington Class 2A Sectional champions showed it could compete with its reciprocal reigning Frankfort Sectional Class 4A counterparts from Harrison.

The Knights pressured Harrison after trailing in the first set 8-2 before cutting the score to 12-11 with shots from outside hitters senior Carley Barrett, sophomore Lauren Johnson. Senior setter Kaitlyn Kuckkan, middle blocker Bliss Ulery, sophomore setter Paige Perez and defensive specialist Grace Bordenet were aggressive with digging shots from the taller Raiders offense.

Barrett notched nine kills, Johnson ripped eight kills, Ulery patted eight blocks, Bordenet made nine digs, Perez served four aces and Kuckkan delivered 21 assists, 10 digs and six blocks.

"We worked hard together a lot and fed off each other's energy," Johnson said.

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com , on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison girls volleyball birthday buddies lead four-set win against Central Catholic