Lady Rebels Keep District Title Streak Alive With Sweep of West Greene

ELIZABETHTON – On Tuesday night the District 1-A Volleyball Tournament finished the same way the previous 12 versions of the tournament have, with the South Greene Lady Rebels holding the gold plaque.

This time South Greene topped West Greene 3-0 in the championship game, 25-10, 25-20, 25-23, to claim the title at Happy Valley High School.

“It feels great to win the district championship tonight,” South Greene senior Whitney Reaves said. “All of these girls played good. We came out and started strong, and we finished strong. It feels really good to beat a really good team that we have battled with this year 3-0.”

South Greene has now won District 1-A 13 straight times, and it has won 17 consecutive district championships in total with four coming in Class AA. Lady Rebels’ coach Stephen Gregg is 16 for 16 in claiming district titles as the Lady Rebels’ coach.

“I was really excited with the way we started that first match. The girls were focused and bought in, and that was really important” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We had a lot of girls step up and it really was a total team effort. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. This is my 16^th in a row, and I don’t want it to change.”

Both South Greene and West Greene are moving on to the Region 1-A Tournament which will be played on October 14 at South Greene. In the semifinals South Greene will play Eagleton and West Greene will play District 2-A champion Washburn.

“We came out and played really well, more like a team, in the first game against North Greene,” West Greene coach Raven Borie said. “But against South Greene we just didn’t play well as team. They challenged us and we didn’t do a good job responding. We are moving on and I’m happy about that. But we have to play through our mistakes better. You have to be mentally prepared this time of year.”

Tuesday’s championship action started with the Lady Rebels taking control of the first set before picking up an emphatic 25-10 win.

Keasley Hankins started the set with an ace for South Greene in what turned out to be a productive day at the service line for the senior. In the first set alone she earned 15 service points.

“Keasley’s serving was a big difference. All of these girls can serve it well, but tonight I went with some of the more consistent servers. There have been times where Keasley has been frustrated, but she ran with her opportunity tonight,” Gregg said.

On a block by Haylee Bird South Greene’s lead reached 5-1. The Lady Buffaloes used kills from Journey Lamons and Aleea Aiken to close the gap to 6-4.

A kill from Braelynn Willis cut South Greene’s lead to 12-10, but then a free-ball error gave the serve back to South Greene. Hankins stepped to the service line and never left.

Sadie Trammel used a sneaky dump to get South Greene’s run started and then a big swing from Emma Padgett proved to be too much for West Greene to handle. The Freshman landed five kills over the final eight points on the way to the 25-10 win.

South Greene’s backline, led by Reaves and Ella Bailey in the closing stretch, gave the Lady Rebels a big boost as they kept finding ways to get under hard swings by Cassidy Hill that looked like sure points for the Lady Buffs.

“We were digging the ball out of the net and doing some of those little things that you want to see this time of year,” Gregg said. “We did a good job of keeping the ball alive, and everybody did a good job of putting up a ball that we could attack.”

In the early portion of the second set Cassidy Hill put down two powerful slams for West Greene, and a kill from Journey put the Lady Buffaloes on top 6-1.

South Greene got going with two kills from Padgett and an ace from Reagan Arrowood as it tied things at 7-7. Errors by West Greene gave South Greene a 9-7 lead, but a kill from Lamons and two good serves from Aiken put the Lady Buffs back in front at 11-9.

The momentum seesawed once more and when Reaves sent over a serve West Greene could not handle and South Greene was in front 14-13. Kortnei Bailey artfully pushed one past the block as the lead grew to 16-13.

Hill gave the lead back to West Greene when she hammered a trio of kills to put West Greene on top 18-16.

An ace by Hankins evened the score at 18-18 and Trammell put the Lady Rebels in front 21-18 with a dump.

In the closing stretch Padgett landed two more kills and Reaves adroitly pushed one to the back line as South Greene moved in front 2-0 with a 25-20 win.

“Emma has been steady all year. A lot of people would not realize she’s a freshman because she has been a workhorse for us,” Gregg said. “She puts in the work, and its good to see that pay off. When we have her and Kortnei playing opposite and both making plays it makes us dangerous. The team knows we need those two making plays.”

In the third set South Greene used three quick kills from the left side by Padgett to go in front 5-1.

Hill used a kill to get West Greene going, and then kills from Aiken, Morgan Moody and Addy Peters evened the score at 7-7.

A block by Peters tied it again at 8-8, but then three straight errors from West Greene gave the Lady Rebels an 11-8 advantage.

South Greene’s Bailey followed with a thundering slam from the left side and then landed a pair of tips to push the lead to 14-8.

On consecutive plays Bird, Padgett and Bailley landed kills to give South Greene a 20-14 advantage.

West Greene did not go down lightly and after Hill came up with a kill and a block the Lady Rebels’ lead was down to 24-23. The night ended on an error and South Greene held on for the 25-23 lead.

West Greene 3, North Greene 0

West Greene advanced to Tuesday’s championship match by taking down North Greene 3-0, 25-18, 25-11, 26-24 in the semifinals.

Things stayed close through the early portion of the first set with North Greene getting two kills from Tralyn Southerland and two aces and tip from Matti Phillips.

Hill began to take over for West Greene and two blocks and two kills put the Lady Buffaloes in front 21-15 before collecting the 25-18 win.

In the second set West Greene began to separate after Lamons landed two aces that pushed the lead to 8-5.

Errors began to mount for the Lady Huskies and then Hill came up with a pair of kills to make it 16-10. In the closing stretch Aiken, Peters and Lamons landed kills on the way to a 25-11 win.

North Greene would not go away easily in the third set and after Southerland landed two kills the Lady Huskies led 9-6.

West Greene took an 11-10 lead on a kill by Hill, but Josie Graham immediately followed with a slam for North Greene.

After kills from Kinlea Eastep, and Phillips and an ace from Southerland North Greene led 20-16.

A tip by Kallie Dobson pushed North Greene’s lead to 23-19, but West Greene rallied. The Lady Buffs got a tip and push from Aiken, and two kills from Hill as it took the 26-24 win.

The loss brought an end to North Greene’s season.

South Greene 3, Hampton 0

South Greene got its day started with a 2-0 win over Hampton, 25-15, 25-20, 25-23.

South Greene did not get off to a hot start and fell behind 13-6 in the first set.

Heidy Dean got the Lady Rebels settled in with three aces, and after Bailey landed a kill the lady Rebels were in front 14-13.

From there Bailey scored on three kills and Reaves tipped a pair over the defense on the way to a 25-15 win.

South Greene started the second set better and after kills from Padgett, Bailey and Reaves it led 7-3.

Back-to-back kills from Bailey made it 12-7, and three kills from Padgett pushed the lead to 16-9.

Bailey added two more kills and Bird scored on a block and kill in the 25-20 South Greene win.

In the third set Hampton hung tough and even led 20-19, but three kills from Padgett a dump from Ava Brobeck and a kill from Bird gave South Greene the 25-23 win.