The North Greene volleyball team made quick work of Hampton on Tuesday evening as it picked up a 3-0 District 1-A sweep, 25-15, 25-7, 25-18.
“It feels really good to win a district game. I felt like we came out really hot and really fired up,” North Greene coach Emaline Erwin said. “Overall, our setters and our hitters were connected and jiving really good tonight. I’m really proud of them.”
Tuesday started with Hampton jumping in front 6-2 behind four kills from Clare Clark. The first set stayed tight to a 9-9 tie, but North Greene’s defense began to settle in and the Bulldogs’ big swings became harder to land.
“We weren’t moving our feet on defense and we weren’t going to the ball,” Erwin said. “We told them they had to be more active, and they got it fixed. From then on we did better.”
Chloe Keys got the Lady Huskies going by dumping a second hit over the net on an unsuspecting defense.
Matti Phillips then landed an ace that started a 7-0 run for North Greene and pushed the lead to 21-11. Josie Graham had two kills and a block in the run, and Kallie Dobson had a big kill from the middle.
In the closing stretch Dobson and Tralyn Southerland both had kills and Addi Dean landed an ace in the 25-15 win.
Phillips returned to the service line to start the second set and she came up with two more aces while Dobson had two blocks on the way to a 6-0 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs came back and closed the gap to 7-6 with Clark hammering a trio of kills, but that was all the life Hampton showed in the set.
Southerland got the serve back with a dump, and then Keys sent 13 straight serves over the net. She started the run with an ace, Cadie McDevitt scored on a pair of deep pushes, Graham snuck a tip over and Southerland pounded a kill.
“We’ve struggled with our serves this year, so it was good to see us get them in tonight. We were consistent tonight, and even when they called a timeout we stayed consistent. That has not been the case a lot this year,” Erwin said.
An errant kill broke the streak, but North Greene scored the final four points with Phillips scoring on a push and a block in the 25-7 win.
In the third set North Greene jumped in front 10-3 with Graham putting down a trio of kills while McDevitt scored on a block.
After a long volley Phillips snuck a tip past the block and then smashed a kill as North Greene took a 14-7 lead.
Graham landed a kill from the left side to give the Lady Huskies a 22-12 lead and a block by McDevitt made it 24-12. Hampton was able to close the gap late, but North Greene took a 25-18 win.
