By Rick Cassano

HARRISON – A milestone achievement just added to Harrison High School’s victorious girls volleyball vibe Monday night.

Kenna Farris cracked the 1,000-assist mark for her career and contributed to a quality win for the Wildcats, who took down visiting Lawrenceburg (Ind.) with a 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 decision at Wildcat Sports Arena.

Farris, a senior setter, needed 25 assists to reach 1,000 and piled up 32 to help Harrison push its record to 2-0.

“I only knew I was close because there was an article written about it,” Farris said. “It felt good to hear the announcement. I’ve been working hard for it.”

Farris has been a significant contributor for Harrison since her sophomore year and missed five matches last season because of a medical issue. She admitted that she never envisioned herself reaching this milestone back when she started playing for the Wildcats.

“I would’ve thought that was crazy back then, but I’m proud of myself,” Farris said. “It’s good that hard work pays off.”

Farris lettered as a freshman, though she only played in three matches. An injury to Lauren Leurck in 2024 cemented a spot in the lineup for Farris.

“I’m super proud of Kenna,” 10th-year Harrison coach Philip Deak said. “I’ve coached her since she was in seventh grade. She’s probably the kid I’ve coached the most.

“She’s a great human being. The kids all love her. She’s been a captain two years for me, and if I ever have an issue, she can take care of it. I get a little emotional thinking this is her last year. Whatever she’s going to do, she’s going to be amazing at it. That’s just who she is.”

The Wildcats have size and power at the net and were led by outside hitters Aubrey Templin and Regan Oaks on Monday. Templin, a sophomore, totaled 17 kills, seven kills and three aces. Oaks, a junior, had 11 kills and four digs.

Sophomore middle hitters Madison Meibers and Madison Waite bring the heat up front as well.

“We’ve got some kids who can turn a game around because of how hard they hit,” Deak said. “You can label them terminal. They can terminate real fast. They’re all legit. There’s probably only a few teams where kids hit that hard. When they put the ball in, you can’t stop them.”

Deak said Harrison was a little wild with its hitting in the second and third sets against Lawrenceburg. The hosts had to rally in both sets to fight off the Tigers (3-1).

“We didn’t see any film, so we didn’t really come in knowing anything,” Farris said. “We just came in with a lot of confidence and being able to play together. When we’re in system and we can hit in the court, we’re unstoppable.”

Deak said while the Wildcats may not have been on top of their game, he knew they would dig down and battle.

“The 12 of them are resilient kids,” Deak said. “They’re super competitive … they want to keep fighting and win every point. They have great attitudes, and it’s a lot of fun. It makes it easy to coach when you have kids like that.”

Farris and senior libero Lucy Longworth both had eight digs for Harrison. Meibers chipped in six kills, while Waite added a pair of blocks.

Lawrenceburg coach Janie Von Losch said her squad looked a little fatigued after opening the season with three matches last week. She did like the play of Maddie Ellis, a six-rotation player, and libero Tatum Disch.

“I would say this was not our best,” Von Losch said. “We were trying to get the energy back up and didn’t show out so well. We’re usually way more offensive than that. We usually are swinging a lot more than we were tonight. We played Harrison’s game and not our game. We need to work on our serve-receive and more aggressive serving consistently.”

The Wildcats returned most of their team after going 13-10 last season with only two seniors. They have two freshmen, Aria Robinson and Gabi Engelkamp, on this year’s roster.

Junior Carsyn Easter is playing a key role as a defensive specialist. Farris, Easter and Longworth are the captains, and Longworth has committed to Transylvania University.

“We want to accomplish a lot. We don’t hide from it,” Deak said. “Medical issues derailed us from taking the steps we needed to last year, but I think we did some good stuff. I think that’s helped us elevate the intensity at practice and with some of the maturity on the court.

“I’m happy where we’re at in our second match of the season. I love the team chemistry. Everybody’s into it. I think we could be a little smarter out of system. Lawrenceburg got us on a bunch of roll shots and made some good decisions. We’ve got to be a little better making in-game adjustments. That’s on me, not them.”

Deak said Harrison spends about 80 percent of each practice working on serve-receive.

“It was a struggle last year,” he said. “It’s always an emphasis for us.”

Farris said the Wildcats don’t have a weak link in the lineup. She won’t be playing at the next level and is leaning toward attending Ohio University right now, but she’s also thinking about Miami.

“Our bar is really high,” Farris said. “It’s a smaller team. There’s only 12 of us counting one girl who swings, so it’s a better dynamic. I’m super excited for the season.”

Harrison travels to Fairfield on Thursday. The Tigers host Greensburg (Ind.) on Tuesday.