North Greene added another win to the win column with an easy sweep over Happy Valley (25-10, 25-13, 25-22) on Thursday afternoon.
The Lady Huskies gained another District 1-1A win and improved to 2-1 in league play after Thursday’s action. In a rare event, North Greene never trailed at any point on Thursday night and led wire-to-wire from start to finish.
“It’s been a great week,” North Greene Head Coach Tanna Stansfield said. “We just kind of made some adjustments and were able to get some other girls in and everybody got an opportunity to play tonight. It was really good.”
Josie Graham began with back-to-back kills to start out. Cadie McDevitt followed up with a kill and North Greene held an early 3-0 lead. Happy Valley tied it 3-3 before four-straight by North Greene sent the Lady Huskies ahead 7-3. Kinlea Eastep and Tralyn Southerland scored back-to-back kills and extended the lead to 9-4. Chloe Grubb added her name to the stat sheet next with a kill and made it 13-5. Graham’s hard-hitting spikes couldn’t, and wouldn’t, be returned and helped North Greene pull away. Graham finished the set off with an ace.
“Josie was great. I told her I was looking at stats today and she’s leading the team in digs and that was before we started playing her all the way around. I think that makes a big difference. She’s not afraid to get on the floor and fall down after a ball. She’s all over the place,” Coach Stansfield detailed.
North Greene took the first set 25-10.
The second set began with Josie Graham making an impact again. Graham dumped one over for the first point of the set. Chloe Keys stepped to the service line and delivered an ace and Graham followed up with an ace soon after for a 5-2 lead. Tralyn Southerland and Cadie McDevitt traded points back-and-forth in the same manner for five-straight points. Southerland would rack up a kill and McDevitt would immediately follow it up with an ace. The tandem helped North Greene score ten-straight and held a commanding 15-3 lead.
North Greene won 15-of-19 after leading 5-3 and cruised through set two with a 25-13 victory.
“The other night we changed some things up and we went with that same rotation again tonight and it works the best out of all the rotations we’re using,” Stansfield stated.
Happy Valley challenged North Greene in the third set and put up a strong fight, but the Lady Huskies still never trailed and completed the sweep.
North Greene struggled offensively in the early stages and couldn’t seem to pull away. Freshman Kenzie Burns was the difference maker in the third set and created a spark when North Greene needed one. Burns delivered three kills and the Lady Huskies led 12-8.
“Burns is a heck of an athlete. We can put her anywhere out there and she’s got some hops,” Coach Stansfield bragged.
Happy Valley closed it to 13-12 and Kinlea Eastep sent one crashing to the floor for a kill. Tralyn Southerland’s kill and block capped off a 7-0 run for North Greene and created a more comfortable 20-12 lead.
The game still wasn’t over yet and Happy Valley wouldn’t lay down and quit. The Lady Warriors won 10 of the next 14 and stood within two of tying the set. Cadie McDevitt ended the night with a kill to send North Greene home with a sweep after a 25-22 third-set win.
The Lady Huskies swept Happy Valley for a second-straight District 1-1A win and improved to 2-1 against in-conference competition.
