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Tiger Cubs shut down by Knights in 2013 volleyball season opener
Greencastle's volleyball squad had a less-than enviable task in opening the 2013 season against Northview Tuesday night.
The visiting Knights, having played the night before, carried on their success against Mooresville in downing the Tiger Cubs 25-10, 25-12 and 25-10.
The Tiger Cubs were hit hard in the beginning, falling behind 4-0 in the first set and saw the lead gradually get away from them as they fell in the first set 25-10.
Northview used a crisp serving game and mixed up its attack, keeping the hosts guessing and frequently forcing the Tiger Cubs to work hard just to get the ball back over the net.
Greencastle head coach Maggie Walters said that while the squad was able to extend plays, winning points was a harder task to complete.
"We played really good defense tonight," Walters said. "We just didn't have our hitting down. Our defense was there but our swings were pretty off. If we get our swings down, we can go up against that team."
Sets two and three mirrored the first set as the Knights never allowed Greencastle to hold the lead Tuesday night.
The Tiger Cubs briefly closed the second set to 15-9 before a Northview run doubled the visitors' lead en route to a 25-12 second set win.
The Knights then pushed down the accelerator in the third set, quickly building a 15-4 lead. The visitors began to rotate deeper into the squad, allowing Greencastle to add to their tally late in the set.
Northview closed the final set out quickly, however, and sent the Tiger Cubs to their first loss of the season.
Walters noted that the squad showed life in a couple of areas that were in need of improvement from the beginning of the year.
"We passed pretty well tonight," Walter said. "We've worked a lot on passing. Passing was our weak point and we've gotten a lot better. We've got to continue to work on the hitting."
Walters added that little things like talking in the middle of the match meant that the squad was beginning to adapt to each other's movement.
"They've gotten better at communicating with each other during the game," Walters said. "They talk to each other when they're going up to hit and let each other know what's open and where they're hitting. That's gotten a lot better."
Greencastle will take its first road trip of the season on Thursday as the Tiger Cubs travel to Crawfordsville. Walters said that the squad should be able to compete with the Athenians and Southmont the following week.
"We'll need to work on our blocking a lot and stop the other teams' hitters," Walters said. "We need to compete more. We should be neck-and-neck with the teams we're going to play next."
At Greencastle
Northview...........25 25 25
Greencastle........10 12 10
Next Match: Greencastle travels to Crawfordsville Tuesday at 7 p.m.