The South Greene Lady Rebels picked up another important District 1-1A win and did it on the road with a 3-0 sweep (27-25, 25-20, 25-11) over North Greene on Tuesday.
The score made it seem like Tuesday night was easy for the Lady Rebels, but that’s far from the truth. North Greene battled hard and made the game uncomfortable for South Greene and kept them on their toes throughout. The first set witnessed 11 ties and four lead changes and went into extras. South Greene pulled away at the end of the second set and went on a scorching run in the third set to make the score look worse than it seemed.
“The first set went down to the wire. The second was a little bit closer than I would’ve liked because we got out to a pretty good lead and they fought back. Third set it was good to see my girls come out and actually take it and own it,” South Greene Head Coach Stephen Gregg stated.
All-State hitter Emma Padgett and senior Kinley McCaslin were a lethal one-two punch on Tuesday. Both players combined for 29 of South Greene’s 31 kills. Padgett finished with 15 kills and McCaslin finished with 14 kills.
“It’s great having that one-two punch. That’s kind of how we’ve laid our foundation here over the last 17 years I’ve been here. We’ve always put those two opposite of whoever our strong hitters are,” Coach Gregg stated.
The win helped South Greene improve to 12-11 overall and a perfect 6-0 in District 1-1A play. The win also helped South Greene claim at least a share of the regular season championship and a win at home hosting Hampton on Thursday could clinch sole possession of the No. 1 seed and regular season title.
“The main thing is we’ve got two conference games left and we’re undefeated in the conference. I think playing all of our weekend tournaments helps prepare you for your conference and we’re going up to Bristol again this weekend so we’ll just see what happens and pray to stay healthy and make a strong push here,” Coach Gregg mentioned.
North Greene dropped to 9-3 overall and 3-2 within conference play.
Tuesday’s win was South Greene’s fifth-straight win over North Greene.
“We were a little slow to come out and be the aggressor. But I thought as the match went on our front line made some great plays. Our back line continued to pass better in location and when we’re passing the ball in good spots it feeds our hitter’s confidence. And I felt like we served the ball great tonight,” Coach Gregg said.
The first set was a thriller and a tone setter. South Greene came out right away and began with a 2-0 lead. North Greene quickly erased it and made a statement by taking the lead with five-straight of their own in the early stages. North Greene led 11-10 before South Greene took 6 of the next eight and took control midway through. The Lady Huskies stormed back to tie it 16-16, but South Greene scored six of the next seven and opened a 22-17 lead. The lead wouldn’t last long.
North Greene flipped the script and won 4 of the next 5 and closed the gap to 23-21 before South Greene called a timeout. It was a much-needed timeout for the Lady Rebels with North Greene regaining the momentum. Coach Gregg explained why the timeout was used and what was discussed during the break.
“When you do this it’s kind of second nature. I’ve coached now for 28 years and you just get that coach’s instinct. It’s nothing really magical that I say it’s just to get them over to the side and remind them of a few things and calm their nerves or just get them out of the heat for a minute. We do a lot of resets and I felt like we responded out of all the timeouts, but especially in set one,” Gregg explained.
The first set went into extras and the Lady Rebels took advantage and came out on top. Sophomore Emma Padgett sent a kill crashing to the floor and an attacking error by North Greene ended the set with South Greene winning set one, 27-25.
South Greene began the second set with a Kinley McCaslin ace and started pulling away early. North Greene fell behind 11-4 after five-straight from South Greene. The Lady Huskies managed to close the gap to 18-16. South Greene felt the pressure and quickly rattled off four-straight to extend the lead.
Emma Padgett ended the second set with another kill and helped South Greene lead 2-0 winning set two, 25-20.
The third set was a wire-to-wire win for South Greene and ended the night early. The score was close with South Greene holding a 12-10 lead before 10-straight from the Lady Rebels blew the set wide open.
Set three went in South Greene’s favor, 25-11, and helped South Greene earn a clean sweep over the Lady Huskies and win on the road.
South Greene hosts Hampton on Thursday with a chance to lock up the regular season championship. North Greene travels to Mosheim for a date with West Greene on Thursday looking to sweep the Lady Buffs this season.
