WESTWOOD — Ashland’s VolleyCats are 64th District champions once again.

Old hat, right?

Not necessarily. With the road they’ve endured this season, it’s actually something to hang their hat on.

“It’s been difficult (at times) but we’ve been clicking lately,” said Ashland senior Abbey Card.

Ashland clicked on Thursday, defeating Fairview 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-9) at Robert Morrison Memorial Gymnasium at Fairview Elementary.

Between inexperience and injury, it’s not all been rainbows and gumdrops for the three-time defending 16th Region champions.

“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs together,” said Ashland coach Jeffrey Huff. “The girls are starting to trust one another some. And we’ve finally set a lineup that we’re happy with.”

Fairview (7-16) didn’t fall without a fight. The Lady Eagles evened up a see-saw Game 1 at 16-16 before Ashland called a timeout.

After the timeout, the VolleyCats went on a 9-1 tear to take the first game.

The spurt was fueled by the line-drive serving of eighth-grader Blake Rogers. Rogers was promoted to full-time varsity for the postseason after spending much of the season as a JV player.

Ashland (16-22) kicked up its serving a notch at the end of each game on Thursday.

In the second game, which was tied 11-11 at one point, Makayla Kirk essentially put away the Lady Eagles with her serves.

Card, the team’s leader, served throughout much of Ashland’s 13-2 run to end Game 3 and the match.

“We work a ton on serving. It’s a very important function of what we do,” Huff said. “We haven’t been very strong most of the year, but I don’t remember more than three or four service errors tonight.”

Card’s younger sister, freshman Shannon, sparked the VolleyCats with some explosive hits at the net.

“Shannon probably got to be the top freshman in the region,” Huff said. “She’s one of our driving forces.”

Fairview coach Lauren Ellis knows a thing or two about freshmen. She’s had to coach several underclassmen this season.

The Lady Eagles, though, made their second consecutive district final appearance, and will begin region tournament play along with the rest of the field next week at West Carter.

“We’ve had a lot of inexperienced girls on the court, but our season unfolded pretty well,” Ellis said.

Fairview was able to defeat Ashland once out of three meetings during the regular season.

The Lady Eagles got tangled up in the net a few times on Thursday, as first and second hits weren’t always well placed.

“We touched the net too much,” Ellis said. “The points we give up is usually because of stuff we’re doing. Some of that is inexperience.”

Nikki Gee, a junior and one of Fairview’s top players, pushed through an ankle injury suffered early in Game 2. She sat out for just a few points.

“We’ve got to have Nikki,” Ellis said. “She holds us together. She came up to me and said, ‘I’m ready, put me back in.’”

Coincidentally, that’s about the time that Ashland took off. Whether it was the hustle of libero Hannah Goebel, or the net play of Brooke Pratt, Molly McCullough and Jessica Sutton, among others, the VolleyCats dominated the rest of the way. Jessalyn Huff and Erika Bonner were also big contributors.

Ashland scored 39 of the final 53 points of the match.

Danielle Boggs and Amy Carpenter were pivotal in closing the door and helping seal the championship.

“We’ve struggled quite a bit and a lot of people doubt us,” Abbey Card said. “Hopefully we can show how much work we’ve put into it.”

Added Huff regarding the upcoming region tournament: “We expect to be alive mid-week next week. We’re hoping to, anyway.”

AARON SNYDER can be reached at asnyder@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.