The West Greene volleyball team had to shake off a sluggish start on Tuesday afternoon and rallied past North Greene to stay unbeaten in District 1-A play with a 3-1 win, 15-25, 25-14, 25-13 25-13.
“I thought we played really well after starting off rocky,” West Greene coach Raven Borie said. “We have talked a lot about supporting the team from the bench and I felt like our bench really stepped up. We had to make changes throughout the night, and those girls really stepped up to do what we needed. We had to improve on defense and with communication, and those got better after that first set.”
In the first set the Lady Buffaloes struggled to cover the floor on defense and could not get their attacks to land offense, but in the break between sets they regrouped and found new life. That led to three convincing wins to close out the evening.
The second set started with the teams trading points as Aleea Aiken, Journey Lamons and Addy Peters all landed kills for West Greene while Josie Graham put down two kills and scored on a block for North Greene. An ace by North Greene’s Addi Dean knotted the score at 9-9.
Cassidy Hill started to get warmed up for West Greene and two thundering slams put the Lady Buffaloes in front 13-10.
“Cassidy brings a lot of energy and anytime she can get going it gets the team pumped. And I think she does a great job of seeing the court and finding the holes,” Borie said.
With Baylee Lowe serving Hill put down another kill from the middle and Morgan Moody scored from the left side as the lead grew to 18-10.
Graham got North Greene going again with a block and Tralyn Southerland landed consecutive swings from the right side to close the gap 19-14.
West Greene finished out the 25-14 win with an ace from Hill and a kill from Peters.
The Lady Buffaloes started the third set where they left off in the second and jumped in front 5-2 behind three kills from Hill in the middle.
North Greene briefly flipped things and after Matti Phillips snuck a tip past the block to go in front 7-5.
Aiken came up with a kill from the right side to even the score at 7-7. She then stepped to service line and landed a pair of aces to put West Greene on top 16-10. Aiken was big at the service line on Tuesday and she had a handful of long runs that allowed West Greene to create separation.
“When Aleea is on she can really make a difference back there serving, and fortunately tonight was one of those nights,” Borie said. “She was very consistent and had some very good serves, and that let us push a little but further ahead.”
Phillips stopped the run with a slam for North Greene, but then West Greene got a kill and a block from Hill and a kill from Aiken as the lead grew to 21-13. The set finished on a handful of Lady Husky errors as West Greene picked up the 25-13 win and moved in front 2-1.
North Greene started the fourth set with a kill and a block from Cadie McDevitt to take a quick 4-2 lead, but it was short lived.
Aiken got the Lady Buffs going with back-to-back aces, and after a seven-point service run West Greene was in front 13-7.
West Greene’s biggest lead of the night came at 21-9 after Hill smashed a swing from the middle.
Hill finished the night with two kills and block over the last three points for a 25-13 win.
West Greene stays unbeaten in District 1-A play which sets up a big night against South Greene on Thursday in which the winner will take control of first place in the league.
“We had some things on defense exposed tonight, and that is something we are going to go back and work on practice. That will be another big game for us on Thursday,” Borie said.
The day started with the Lady Huskies looking as though they might cruise to a victory after taking the first stet 25-15.
The set started with North Greene taking a 5-1 lead behind two quick kills from Graham on the left side.
Two aces by Hill tied things at 5-5, and things went back and forth until a slam by Phillips put North Greene in front 12-9.
Phillips dropped a pair of aces on the Lady Buffaloes and Graham put down two more kills for an 18-14 North Greene lead. Phillips then scored on a push to the left corner and West Greene errors finished out the opening set.
