The North Greene volleyball team stayed unbeaten in the early portion of the season on Monday night by taking down David Crockett 3-1 inside of Jerome Woolsey Gymnasium.
The Lady Huskies collected the 3-1 win by scores of 25-10, 19-25, 25-23 and 25-18.
“I felt like they played really well today,” North Greene coach Tanna Stansfield said. “We had not played in almost a week, and I was kind of worried how we might come out. But we played lights out in the first set. I think it is good for us to play a team like Crockett, they tested us, but the girls played like the team I know they can be.”
Monday’s action started with a dominant performance in the first set where the Lady Huskies moved the ball well and made it tough for Crocket to get it back across the net.
North Greene quickly moved in front 4-1 after Josie Graham found a hole in the defense to land a tip.
With Allie Cantwell serving that lead grew to 15-4. Tralyn Southerland scored on a block and Cantwell had an ace, but most of the damage was inflicted by six Lady Pioneers’ errors.
Crocket began to land more swings in the second half of the set, but it could not dent North Greene’s lead. In the closing stretch Cadie McDevitt scored on a block and Addi Dean pushed one deep from the back row on the way to a 25-10 win.
“We were passing really well and we found holes to push the ball to. We did a good job serving, and we had really good energy in that first set,” Stansfield said.
The game flipped in the second set and David Crockett took the momentum from the Lady Huskies.
North Greene played from in front early with McDevitt stuffing a kill attempt and Graham landing an ace to make it 5-1.
A trio of aces from Jaidyn Howard gave the Lady Pioneers their first lead of the night at 8-7. Southerland answered with a block and a kill for North Greene, but then back-to-back errors gave Crockett the lead for good.
Three aces from Haley Corum and two kills by Ella Davis put Crockett in front 20-11.
North Greene narrowed the gap late with kills from Chloe Keys and Graham, but the Lady Pioneers evened things at 1-1 with a 25-19 win.
In the third set North Greene started with soft touches from Kenzie Burns and Graham as the lead reached 7-1.
David Crockett came back with big swings from Lilly Mango to close the gap to 11-8. The Lady Pioneers kept fighting and when Tyla Barnett put down a kill from the middle the score was tied at 20-20.
Southerland got North Greene going again with a slam from the middle and then a block. From there the Lady Huskies claimed a 25-23 win.
In the early portion of the fourth set Kinlea Eastep finished a long volley with a hard kill from the left side as North Greene went in front 6-2.
Crocket rallied and when Ella Riddle got an ace to fall the Lady Pioneers led 8-6.
North Greene tied things at 9-9 on another kill by Eastep and went in front 15-14 on a right side kill by Burns. With Cantwell serving the lead grew to 20-17 before North Greene finished the 25-18 win with a kill from Graham and a block from Chloe Grubb.
North Greene will now prepare to step into District 1-A action for the first time with a trip to South Greene on Wednesday.
“This group is coming together great,” Stansfield said. “We need come back and have a good practice tomorrow. I hope they come back Wednesday locked in and play as well as they did tonight.”
