The South Greene volleyball team hosted Greeneville on Tuesday night and opened up the season with a 3-1 victory (25-17, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18) over the Lady Devils.
After severe thunderstorms cancelled all opening day games on Monday night, both South Greene and Greeneville were champing at the bit to get out on the court on Tuesday night. Both teams looked strong in Tuesday’s night’s contest, but it was the homestanding Lady Rebels who got the upper hand in two crucial sets to hail the victor.
“It was not the cleanest game of all, but it was ebbs and flows throughout the whole match. It felt like in sets one and two we had the lead and never had to play from behind and we won both of those. In the third set we had to play catch up and I think we were down 18-11 and, in the timeout I really tested them with adversity. I said ‘this is the first time this year you’ve had adversity, so show me what this team is capable of doing’ and we made it respectable to 25-23,” Lady Rebels head coach Stephen Gregg stated. “I felt like both teams came in and battled. We had a lot of excitement early in the match and it kind of fizzled out and we had to step on the gas in the fourth set.”
South Greene was led by Emma Padgett with 21 kills. Senior newcomer Kinley McCaslin delivered 13 kills for the Lady Rebels in her first game in new threads. Katie Johnson led Greeneville with 10 kills and three aces. Natalie Knight reached double figures as well with 10 kills.
The first set proved to be a huge difference maker in Tuesday’s game. Both teams split the second and third sets in razor close finishes, but it was South Greene who opened up the game strong and claimed the all-important first set. South Greene never trailed and had a crucial stretch in the middle of the first set swinging the score from 11-10 to 16-11. The Lady Devils never threatened the lead after that point.
South Greene took the first set 25-17. Padgett had nine kills in the set and McCaslin had five kills. The two players combined for 14 of South Greene’s 25 points.
The second set was more exciting and came down to the wire after looking like South Greene might run away with it. The Lady Rebels led 18-11 and 22-17 before Greeneville came storming back to tie it 24-24.
South Greene knew who to call on and Padgett delivered a much-needed kill to make it 25-24. Greeneville did not return Padgett’s next serve to end the set.
The Lady Rebels hung on to win 26-24 and led 2-0. Padgett delivered seven more kills.
“She’s just an aggressive hitter. She was swinging on the back row and front row and really calling her number,” Gregg said about Padgett’s performance.
Greeneville was determined not to get swept and carried the momentum over from the second set and won the third. The Lady Devils led wire-to-wire, but not without another tight finish. South Greene trailed 24-17 before winning six-straight and cut it to 24-23. Greeneville’s lone senior Riley Ireland closed the set with a kill and helped the Lady Greene Devils avoid the sweep with a 25-23 victory.
The fourth set was another tightly-contested set. Greeneville looked to be in control in the early going with as much as a three-point lead. The most crucial moment came when Coach Gregg called a timeout with the score knotted at 15-15.
“I called timeout and I realized they’ve been playing for about two-and-a-half hours and what can I do as a coach? I thought let’s sit them down for a minute. Let them slow their respirations down and sit there and calm their nerves,” Coach Gregg explained.
South Greene won five-straight points out of the timeout and ended on a 10-3 run to end the set and the match with a 3-1 victory.
Greeneville begins District 1-2A competition this Thursday by hosting rival Elizabethton. South Greene travels to Volunteer on Thursday night for non-conference action.
