The Lady Devils shook off a slow start and quickly heated up to sweep Sullivan East at home on Tuesday night, 25-22, 25-16, 25-14.
Greeneville’s sluggish start paid dividends in the long run. They grew more dominant as each set went on and produced 35 total kills as an offensive unit.
“I think that it was a really good win for us because we played with an upper trajectory. I think we got better and better as the night went on and that’s not always been the case this season. I told the girls how proud I was of them for continuing to climb and get better. That’s great confidence building going into the end of the season,” Head Coach Sara Aiken said.
The offense was passed around through Destani Bailey, Leah Ford, and Kinley McCaslin. Bailey provided a team-high 9 kills with Ford and McCaslin trailing right behind her with 8.
Although Greeneville’s win included a few standout offensive performances, Coach Aiken was most proud of their defensive performance. “I thought our defense did a really good job backing up our offense and they were keeping the ball alive all night,” she mentioned.
Sullivan East wasted little time claiming a 7-2 lead to open up the first set. Kyndl Hodge claimed the first ace of the matchup and Sophie Johnson collected a pair of kills in that stretch. Leah Ford ended the run with a kill for the Lady Devils.
Lilly Mowrer blocked a spike attempt at the net to get that point back, but not before Greeneville took three-straight volleys to pull within 8-6. Trudi Aiken delivered a block and Kinley McCaslin added her first kill of the night.
The Lady Patriots won six of the next seven volleys to reach their largest lead at 14-7. Sophie Johnson and Lacy Brewer gained back-to-back kills and four volleys later Jadah Keller gained back-to-back aces.
In between Keller’s pair of aces Coach Aiken called a timeout to settle things down and reminded the girls what their goal was.
“I just reminded them ‘what were our goals at the beginning of this game and how have we done?’ I just had to refocus them. If you have a lot of adrenaline at the beginning things can get a little shaky and you don’t even mean for them to. Just the ability for them to refocus and ground themselves again. That’s a mature skill to have. I was super happy to see them pull that out,” Coach Aiken mentioned.
After the timeout Greeneville won ten of the next eleven and surged in front 17-15. Bailey started their run with a stiff block. McCaslin came up with a kill before going to the service line and delivered a trio of aces. Kyla Jobe and Leah Ford helped with kills during the run and Trudi Aiken provided another ace.
Sullivan East called a timeout shook from Greeneville’s run, and came back out to tie things at 17-17 with a huge kill from Johnson. Jobe stretched Greeneville’s lead to 21-19 before they tied it back up at 21-21 with another kill from Johnson.
The Lady Devils strung together four-straight hard-fought points to close out the first set with a 25-21 win. Aiken’s dump over the net was followed by back-to-back kills from McCaslin before Jobe closed it out with an ace.
Just how Sullivan East pulled out to an early lead in the first, Greeneville did so in the second. With kills from Bailey, Jobe, and Ford they grew a 4-0 lead and turned it into a 7-1 lead with back-to-back aces from Manning Click
The lead soon disappeared and the set reached a 9-9 tie. Lilly Mowrer claimed back-to-back kills and Sophie Johnson blocked a kill attempt at the net. Greeneville’s own errors allowed them to fight back and tie the game.
A run of five-straight propelled Greeneville back into the lead. Emma Shelton’s kill was followed by an ace from Jobe and a kill from McCaslin.
Jadah Keller would get Sullivan East back on the board with a kill, but another run of five-straight gave Greeneville a commanding 19-10 lead. Manning Click started the second run with a kill and sent Emma Shelton to the line where she would collect an ace. Destani Bailey picked up a kill to cap the run.
McCaslin kept them steady with a kill to bump it to 21-13. The Lady Patriots won three of the next five, but Greeneville put the set away with kills from Leah Ford and Kyla Jobe.
Greeneville won the second set 25-16 and marched into the third set looking for the clean sweep.
Both teams traded blows in the early stages of the third. Asia Cairns put the Lady Pats ahead 3-2 before Jobe tied it at 3-3. Lilly Mowrer responded back with a kill, but so did Jobe again.
Greeneville would finally take the lead for good through a tip kill from Emma Shelton. That kill started a hot streak that elevated their lead to 15-8. Bailey came alive in the final set and landed two big spikes in bounds. She had a team-high nine kills on eleven kill attempts and committed only one attack error all night.
Shelton was golden from the line and delivered back-to-back aces. McCaslin ended the run with another kill.
The Lady Pats scored two-straight but struggled to get anything going outside of that and surrendered ten out of the last fourteen volleys.
Bailey’s push kill landed comfortably in the back right corner to start their final run. McCaslin toed the line and provided an ace. Two stuffs at the net by Bailey put them ahead 22-11.
Kyla Jobe ended the match the same way she ended the previous two sets with another spike to close it out. She ended the night with six kills and five digs.
Greeneville won the third and final set 25-14 to clinch a sweep over Sullivan East.
The Lady Devils host Chuckey-Doak next on Thursday night in a District 1-AA battle with the Lady Black Knights.
