The Greeneville volleyball team got the postseason started with a performance to be proud of on Monday evening as it swept Johnson County 3-0 (25-8, 25-14, 25-14) in the opening round of the District 1-AA Tournament.
“I thought that this was one of the most consistent matches that we have played in a while,” Greeneville coach Sara Aiken Said. “I’m proud of that. We came in with a couple of goals and we achieved them. It was good consistency tonight. We have really worked hard on reducing consecutive errors. I want to play aggressive, but we can’t be making several errors in a row. I thought tonight that made us successful.”
With the win the Lady Devils advance to the winners’ bracket semifinals where they will face Chuckey-Doak at 6 p.m on Tuesday. The loser of that game will play immediately after in the double-elimination portion of the tournament to try to keep their season alive. Elizabethton and Sullivan East will play at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the other winners’ bracket semifinal game.
“The focus will still be on coming back tomorrow and playing consistent,” Aiken said. “We have to play through an error and come back and be successful on the next play. This district plays the ball up on defense relentlessly. We saw that tonight, and we will see it in every game. We have to think. We have to know we aren’t going to get a kill on the first attack. We are going to have to keep going after it.”
Monday’s action could not have gotten off to a better start for the Lady Devils as Trudi Aiken served them out to an 9-0 lead in the opening set. Kinley McCaslin came up with two kills and scored on a tip in the opening set while a handful of Aiken’s serves never made it back over the net.
“That took our shoulders down from our ears a little bit. It let us get comfortable,” coach Aiken said. “Good for her for coming in confident with the first serves of the match. That was big and I loved it. I don’t think I’ve seen that all year.”
Two kills by Leah Ford pushed Greeneville’s lead to 13-2, and two kills by Kyla Jobe followed to make it 15-5.
Greeneville finished out the first set on a 10-3 run in which McCaslin, Ford, Jobe and Destani Bailey all put down kills in the 25-8 win.
In the second set Johnson County jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Ford got the Lady Devils going with a right-side kill. Brynlee Jones then tied things at 4-4 from the service line.
Greeneville took the lead at 6-5 when McKinley McCaslin snuck a tip past the Lady Longhorns. Jobe followed with an ace and Emma Shelton slammed a kill from the middle for a 10-5 lead.
Johnson County closed the gap to 10-9 with Josie Grindstaff serving. Two kills by McCaslin got Greeneville going again, and for much of the nigh McCaslin’s ability to land her swings into holes in the defense kept the Lady Devils in front.
“Kinley is so athletic and she is so fun to watch,” Aiken said. “She gets places really quickly and she had a fantastic night. Not just at the net, but she played really solid ball-control defense as well,” Aiken said.
McCaslin hammered another swing to push the advantage to 17-10. In the closing stretch Jobe and Shelton each scored from the left side and then Jones finished the 25-14 win with a pair of aces.
Monday’s third set started back and forth, but with McCaslin serving Greeneville got a kill from Bailey in the middle and a thundering slam from Jobe on the left side for a 10-5 lead.
From there the teams traded points again as Greeneville’s lead fluctuated between four and six points.
Jobe put down a kill to make it 19-13 and then Johnson County committed three consecutive errors to put it in a 22-13 hole. The night finished with Ford putting down a kill from the right side and Manning Click ended the 25-14 win with an ace.
