The Greeneville volleyball team picked up its first win of the young season by sweeping South Greene, but Tennessee high was the ultimate winner of Tuesday’s tri-match.
The Lady Devils started the evening by taking down South Greene 2-0 (25-20, 25-16).
In its season opener on Monday the Lady Devils started strong against Science Hill, but ended up falling 3-1. On Tuesday Greeneville coach Sara Aiken wanted to see more consistency from her squad and she felt like she got that, even in a tough loss to Tennessee High.
“After last night I asked the girls to fix some things, and they did that tonight. That’s all I can ask for as a coach,” Aiken said. “I wanted them to stay competitive throughout the match, and I felt like they did a much better job of that tonight. They didn’t rest on a lead, and they didn’t crumble when they fell behind.”
Greeneville began to separate from the Lady Rebels at 4-3 when Natalie Knight got a tip to fall over the front line. Manning Click then extended the lead to 9-3 at the service line.
Three errors by Greeneville closed the gap 9-6 before the lady Devils got going again. Emma Shelton scored on a deep push and a kill before Leah Ford hammered a slam from the left side.
Kinley McCaslin got an ace to drop and then picked up a back-row kill as the lead reached 16-7.
South Greene responded with kills from Emma Padgett and Kortnei Bailey before Whitney Reaves narrowed the margin to 17-12 at the service line.
From there the teams traded points and Julia Woolsey finished Greeneville’s 25-20 win with an ace.
In the second set South Greene held a narrow advantage early with Bailey scoring on a tip and block, but three straight errors evened the score at 9-9.
That is where Gabby Atchison began to make her presence felt in the middle. In quick succession she had a kill and three blocks. The one time the Lady Rebels stopped her swing Ford stepped in and hammered down a point when the ball came back over the net.
Ford earned another kill and Brylee Tullock scored on a free ball as the Lady Devils’ lead reached 17-9.
Padgett had three kills for South Greene in the closing stretch, but the Lady Rebels could not narrow the margin and fell 25-16.
Greeneville vs Tennessee
Greeneville finished the night by battling with Tennessee High, but ultimately coming up short in the 2-0 loss (27-25, 25-21).
The first set finished as a knock-down-drag-out bout, but in the early portion Greeneville held the upper hand.
At the start Ford slammed it three times from the left side. Knight then got going from the right side with two blocks, a tip and kill to put Greeneville in front 10-6. Atchison scored on a block and another kill by Ford gave Greeneville its biggest lead at 14-8.
Greeneville spread the ball around on the front line on Tuesday with Ford, Knight, McCaslin, Shelton, Athison, Tullock and Aubree Honeycutt all coming up with big plays at different times on Tuesday.
“It’s awesome to have that up front,” Aiken said. “It’s new for us to have that kind of quality depth. Those girls are coming along even though a lot of them are young. The youth development programs have really helped these girls become good volleyball players.”
Zoey Phillips sparked Tennessee with a kill and a block as the gap closed to 15-14. Ashton Blair tied the score at 18-18 with a block and then she scored on a tip that put the Lady Vikings in front for the first time.
Click brought Greeneville back to even at 24-24 with an ace, and McCaslin tied things at 25-25 with a booming kill from the left side, but two errant swings allowed the Lady Vikings to escape with a 27-25 win.
The second set was again tight, but Tennessee held the upper hand most of the way.
Blair had the hot hand early and after she landed three kills in a five point stretch the ladies from Bristol went in front 15-8.
Greeneville got kills from Ford and McCaslin, and then Click dropped in an ace to cut the lead down to 16-15.
Greeneville tied things at 19-19 when Tullock stuffed a Tennessee swing, but Lady Vikings kept at it and pulled away to a 25-21 win.
“It’s so important for us to be tested right now,” Aiken said. “We want to play programs that are strong, because that gives us a look at what we need to work on. We are proud of the work we have done in the preseason, but then you play these good teams, and we see where we have to improve.”
South Greene vs Tennessee
The Lady Vikings started their day with a 2-0 win over South Greene (25-10, 25-18).
The first set started with the Lady Viking jumping front 8-2 with Skyler Hoffman and Karah Smith each earning kills.
South Greene’s first attacking point came when Sadie Trammell got a first-hit kill to fall to close the gap to 8-6.
Tennessee got going again with kills from Phillips, Hoffman and Bree Adams to go in front 14-8.
Tennessee finished the set on an 11-1 run to take a 25-10 win.
In the second set South Greene briefly took the lead at 5-4 on an ace by Bailey Ricker.
With Camden Ward serving the Lady Vikings began to pull away. She landed three aces and the lead grew to 17-7.
Padgett picked up two kills for South Greene to cut the lead to 20-15, but it could not get any closer and Tennessee took a 25-18 win.
