The West Greene volleyball team started strong on Tuesday afternoon before getting pushed to the limit, but they still managed to earn a District 1-A sweep of Hampton, 25-9, 25-11, 26-24.
“I think that we well played in the first two sets, but then we got lazy in the third set, and it showed on the scoreboard,” West Greene coach Raven Borie said. “It’s good to a get a home win in district play, and hopefully we can learn from that third set and do better going forward.”
The Lady Buffaloes cruised in the first two sets, but in the third set Hampton showed some fight and did its best to extend the match.
Chloe Brown got West Greene off to a strong start in the set with a six-point service streak for a quick 6-0 lead. All night Brown gave the Buffaloes an advantage at the service line with three different runs of more than five points.
In the opening stretch Addy Peters and Cassidy Hill had kills while Braelynn Willis scored on a block.
Hamton came back and tied things at 8-8 after West Greene committed three straight errors. Clare Clark then pushed a ball deep to the back line for a 10-9 Hampton lead.
From there the teams traded points in a fight to the finish. Morgan Moody landed an ace to put West Greene up 15-13, but then Bridgit Sarrett came up with a block to give Hampton an 18-17 lead.
Consecutive errors by West Greene, put Hampton up 22-20, but the Lady Buffaloes buckled down at the end to earn the sweep. Brown came up with a right side kill that got West Greene going again and Peters followed by scoring on a pair of tips. Willis finished the 26-24 win with a kill.
“I think the girls finally realized how bad they were letting things get, and their desire to win and their competitiveness finally kicked in,” Borie said. “They finally cleaned things up to get the win.”
Tuesday’s first set started with Brown giving West Greene a 6-0 lead at the service line in a stretch that included two aces. Willis picked up West Greene’s first kill of the night with a slam from the left side that made it 7-1.
In a six-point run Aleea Aiken landed two aces while Hill came up with a pair of kills as the lead grew to 15-4.
Another long service stretch from Brown pushed the lead to 24-7. In that seven-point run Peters scored on a kill and a block before West Greene claimed the 25-9 win.
In the second set West Greene took a commanding 11-2 lead in the early going. Brown scored on a pair of kills, and Hill scored on a tip and a block.
Hampton errors allowed West Greene’s lead to grow to 17-5. The Lady Buffaloes then finished out the set with kills from Peters, Hill, and Kensie Morrison on the way to 25-11 win.
