For the 5th-straight season and 10th of the last 11 years, the Greeneville Lady Greene Devils were crowned District 1-AA champions after sweeping Elizabethton, 25-14, 25-18, 25-18, on Thursday night.
“I am so happy. I am so proud of the girls. It was a sweep and a strong sweep. I’m so proud of them,” Greeneville Head Coach Sara Aiken said.
Earlier in the season you might not have been able to convince some people that Greeneville would be back on top at season’s end. Playing below .500 and falling back to the No. 3 seed entering the tournament, not many were expecting them to pull things together and win another title. But the Lady Devils have started playing their best at the beginning of the postseason and knocked off the top-seeded Lady Cyclones for another tournament plaque.
“It is magical. It is so good,” Coach Aiken mentioned.
Greeneville’s Kyla Jobe was crowned Tournament MVP after providing big moments to help them capture gold again. Jobe was also named Player of the Year for her hard work and efforts all season long. She was joined by Trudi Aiken and Kinley McCaslin on the All-Tournament Team.
“Kyla is a gamer, and she’s a mentally prepared gamer, and she’s an athletically prepared gamer. So to have that mentality and that athleticism on the court for six rotations is in and of itself special,” Aiken stated.
With the win, the Lady Devils advance to the Region 1-2A Tournament and are matched up with Gibbs in the first round. District 2-2A winner Volunteer will square off against Elizabethton.
Greeneville’s offense started hot from the get-go and made statements early. Trudi Aiken began the contest with an ace and Kinley McCaslin delivered a kill next. Kyla Jobe provided a pair of big kills to keep Greeneville ahead 5-3. Emma Shelton then delivered a trio of kills to extend their lead to 11-6 before Betsy called a timeout.
The Lady Cyclones scored two-straight before Greeneville went on their first big run of the game scoring five in-a-row. McCaslin started with a spike and a block and Shelton earned an ace at the service line. Destani Bailey smacked one over the net to finish the run.
Kyla Jobe came alive at the end of the first set and collected four kills, including three-straight to end it, to help lift Greeneville to a 25-14 victory.
The second set began like the first set with the Lady Devils striking first. Leah Ford rose up to spike one into the hardwood and picked up another moments later to put them in front 3-2.
They fell behind 4-3, but regained the lead off Jobe’s kill and ace and never looked back. They scored nine-straight points and strengthened their lead by a wide margin. After Jobe’s points, Kinley McCaslin delivered a spike and so did Emma Shelton three volleys later. Betsy called a timeout trailing 10-4, but it didn’t stop Greeneville’s run. Jobe smashed an ace over the net and McCaslin contributed more offense with back-to-back kills.
McCaslin led the Lady Devils with 13 kills and was a main catalyst to their championship win on Thursday night. “She’s super bouncy so whenever she has great timing and great confidence she commands the court,” Coach Aiken stated.
Elizabethton’s Jasy Shell ended the run with a kill. A few moments later they started a run of their own winning five out of the next six volleys to pull within four. McCaslin’s next kill ended the run.
Emma Shelton was a key contributor in the later stages and provided points in three different ways. She first rose up for a block then shot one down for a kill. After McCaslin struck with another kill, she stepped to the service line and earned an ace.
The Lady Devils scored three-straight to end the set and survived a late comeback attempt to capture a 25-18 win and go up 2-0.
An unsung hero in the game was Greeneville’s Trudi Aiken. She started the match with an ace in the first set and did so in the third set. Both aces electrified an amped up Greene Devil crowd and were huge opening plays.
“That allows you to take a big deep breath and say you can be confident on the next touch on the ball. She’s struggled with serving this season. It’s not been an easy season for her serving. Just the growth and maturity mentally with serving is really neat to see,” Coach Aiken bragged.
Destani Bailey followed up on that hot start and delivered a kill and block combo on back-to-back plays.
Ainsley Wampler seized the moment and scored two kills and two aces for Elizabethton in a run that saw them win five out of six volleys and take a 6-4 lead.
The Lady Devils remained strong up front and received huge blocks from Shelton and Jobe to tie it at 7-7. Tied 10-10, Kinley McCaslin served up back-to-back aces to give them a 12-10 lead they wouldn’t let go of. Kyla Jobe’s nifty fake above the net led to the most creative kill of the night. She faked a spike by drawing back her right arm just to poke the ball over with her left to gain the point. Manning Click etched her name into the scorer’s book with an ace next. The Lady Devils had their own stretch of winning five out of the next six to take a larger lead.
“When you can play with confidence, you can make those runs. And that’s absolutely mandatory in this game to be able to make runs and not make an error and error yourself out of a run,” Aiken said.
After a kill from Emma Shelton and an ace from Brynlee Jones, the Lady Cyclones called a timeout behind 17-12. The timeout had no effect on Greeneville’s momentum. Shelton landed back-to-back kills to lead 21-13 and set them up for the final push across the finish line. McCaslin delivered her final kill of her night and Aiken’s dump over the net put them one step closer.
Destani Bailey stuck her arms up highly and stuffed an incoming shot to help Greeneville prevail 25-18 in the final set and watched her teammates storm the court as the Lady Devils captured the District 1-AA Championship.
Kinley McCaslin led them with a team-high 13 kills. Emma Shelton and Kyla Jobe each had 9 kills. Destani Bailey had 3 blocks and Shelton had 2. Manning Click hit the floor for 6 digs and Trudi Aiken helped with 4 digs. Jobe had 3 aces in service and Greeneville won 73% of the volleys with her serving.
Greeneville is set to begin the Region 1-AA Tournament against Gibbs next week.
Among All-Conference selections, Greeneville had three players listed. Kyla Jobe, Trudi Aiken, and Destani Bailey were honored.
Chuckey-Doak’s Jacey Taylor, Addyson Pruitt, and Cristen Bishop were named All-Conference. Pruitt was also named All-Tournament with Harlee Richardson. Taylor was named Newcomer of the Year and Marissa Snapp was named Coach of the Year.
