The South Greene volleyball team had to battle the whole way, but it got the season started with a 3-0 win over Chuckey-Doak on Monday, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 25-18.
“It’s definitely early in the year, that showed tonight,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We have a lot of room for improvement on things we can control on our side of the net. But Chuckey-Doak played well, and they are a good team who is going to beat a lot of teams. We got sluggish and I think we were fortunate it didn’t go to five. We may be rusty early, but my philosophy has always been to find those things we need to work on and improve as the year goes on.”
In the decisive fourth set the Lady Rebels jumped in front 7-1. Davanie Tarlton hammered down a pair of kills from opposite ends of the net in the opening run. Addison Compton and Whitney Reaves each landed aces and Ryleigh Gregg put down another kill.
“They did clean some things up in the fourth set, which was good to see,” Gregg said. “In the set we lost I think our first three servers blasted it out of the back. That got our emotions down, and this is a momentum sport. In the fourth set we controlled that better and we got in front.”
After a tip by Baylee Jennings South Greene’s lead grew to 11-3. That forced Chuckey-Doak coach Marissa Snapp to call a timeout, and out of the timeout the Lady Black Knights found new life. Jacey Taylor swatted a pair of kills from the left side while Isabelle Karicker and Macy Cox came up with kills in the middle as the score moved to 14-8.
Chuckey-Doak got as close as 19-15 and then 20-16 on a block and kill by Karicker, but South Greene was able to hold on for the win. Tarlton finished the night with a kill, but below the net play was key for the Lady Rebels as they kept plays alive and forced Chuckey-Doak into mistakes.
“We’re going to have to win a lot of long rallies, we’re going to have to win the dirty points,” Gregg said. “We have to trust our defense. I feel like the last two weeks at practice have been great, but here in a game there were things we didn’t do well. We are having to learn to focus on defense, and it will come its still early. We just need to play, we need to get in some weekend tournaments and that mental game will sharpen up.”
The evening started with South Greene taking an early 6-1 lead in the first set. Compton capped the run with an ace, but four errors by the Lady Knights kept her serving.
Karicker got a little momentum on Chuckey-Doak’s side with a pair of blocks that closed the gap to 12-7.
South Greene’s biggest lead came at 16-8 when Compton tipped the ball behind her back into a hole into the defense.
Taylor got Chuckey-Doak going with a well-placed kill from the left side, and with Addy Pruitt sent over a series of quality serves as the deficit shrank to 17-15.
Jennings put down a kill from the middle for South Greene and then Whitney Reaves landed a kill from the left side that put South Greene in front 23-17, before the set finished at 25-18.
Three of South Greene’s first four serves of the second set failed to stay within the boundaries and that let Chuckey-Doak take its first lead at 4-3. That lead stretched to 10-5 after Taylor scored on a kill and a tip while Harlee Richardson scored on an ace and block.
Hustle plays by Reaves and Jennings saved balls that were flying out of bounds on a long volley that ended in a block by Tarlton that allowed the Lady Rebels to close the gap to 12-9.
Kendra Key put down an ace to stretch the lead back to 17-11, but then errors drew South Greene back to 17-15.
Tarlton emphatically slammed a kill from the middle to pull South Greene to within two at 20-18, but the Lady Knights held on for a 25-19 win that tied the match at 1-1.
The third set started back and forth, but Gregg gave South Greene its first separation at 8-4 when she dropped in an ace from the service line.
A back-row kill from Richardson closed the gap to 8-6, and then a series of long volleys followed with most ending in an errors.
After a kill and a block from Key and a tip by Taylor Chuckey-Doak pulled itself within one point at 15-14, but then the Lady Knights missed the next serve.
Tarlton woke up South Greene with a kil from the middle and when Reaves landed an ace the Lady Rebels were back in front 21-15.
In the closing stretch Compton and Bailey Lowe scored on tips while Gregg and Tarton had kills on the way to a 25-18 win.
