Greencastle beats Warriors

Greencastle's volleyball squad notched their second win of the season Tuesday night, sweeping Turkey run 25-23, 25-6 and 25-23.

Each set was different from the others, as the hosts were forced into a tightly contested first set before blowing the doors of the Warriors in the second set. The third required a large comeback before the Tiger Cubs could wrap up the win.

Greencastle took an early lead in set No. 1, at points leading by as many as five but couldn't shake the visitors as the margin stayed between two to three points for most of the set.

Once the hosts got to 24-20, though, Turkey Run made one final push, closing the gap to 24-23 before Greencastl secured the set.

The let down from the Warriors was apparent as Greencastle quickly pummeled the visitors in the second set, racing out to an early 13-3 lead and never looked back. The 25-6 second set looked to give the Tiger Cubs the momentum needed to close out the game.

Taking an early lead in the third set, the hosts looked set to cruise. Turkey Run, though, refused to go quietly and tied the set at 8-8 apiece before building a 12-19 lead.

It looked as if the Warriors would pull themselves back into the match, but the Tiger Cubs rallied, and rallied hard.

A six point swing saw the lead evaporate to one at 19-20. Turkey Run took two point before the hosts rattled off five straight to put them within a point of the match.

The visitors snared one more point before over-hitting the final ball of the game to give the Tiger Cubs their second win of the season.

Greencastle head coach Liz Spencer said afterward that confidence was the key to the victory.

"Turkey Run is very similar to us. They lack confidence in what they do. Our kids stayed up, they felt confident, they stayed aggressive, but smart," Spencer said.

"Against Turkey Run, if you make an error or two, you stop talking and don't do the little things and it snowballs. Our kids were able to play good enough defense until we were able to put the ball down."

When asked about winning the second set by such a large margin, Spencer said that figuring out how to keep the squad focused was a new challenge.

"We've not been in that position very often. (Assistant coach) Millie (Brabham) and I weren't sure how the girls would react. We talked to them about playing one point at a time and that game was over. You never really know how they will internalize that," Spencer said.

"I'm extremely proud of them. They kept doing the little things right. Our passing was good. Our setting was good. The hitters didn't lose their confidence, and that's what you have to have.

We had big swings from Victoria Evans and Rayleigh Amis, along with smart hitting from the others. I was really happy for Victoria. She came up with a couple big swings from the side that got us back in the game."

"They're excited. They have to know how it feels to win before they can go to that next step," Spencer added.

Greencastle plays again Thursday when they host North Putnam. Spencer said building off the win would take focus.

"We only have one day of practice to work on some things before we play North Putnam. They're very athletic but they have a tendency to do the things that we do, because some times you end up beating yourself," Spencer said.

"How are we going to handle the momentum? We've got a couple of things to go over. We need to make sure we're ready to play, make sure we know what we're trying to do defensively and just go at it and have fun."

At Greencastle

Turkey Run 23 6 23

Greencastle 25 25 25