Cub spikers win fifth straight title

Monday, September 11, 2017
Greencastle won the Putnam County volleyball championship on Saturday for the fifth year in a row. Team members are (from left, front) Lily Meyer, Jalyn Duff and Allison Stevens; (back) assistant coach Denise Meyer, Jada Amis, Mckenzie Woodall, Maggie Meyer, Ivy Wright, Macy Clark and head coach Maggie Walters.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

CLOVERDALE — Greencastle captured its fifth straight Putnam County title in high school volleyball on Saturday.

After what has become a regular tradition of late, the Tiger Cubs are hoping to parlay that success into a deeper tournament run this year in both the Western Indiana Conference and next month’s sectional.

“I thought our serve-receive and our defense played pretty well,” Greencastle coach Maggie Walters said after her team defeated North Putnam in the county championship. “Our offense is still struggling to put the ball away and find the open shots on the court. We are consistent at county, which is a positive.”

Walters is hoping her hitters become more aggressive, and as that change happens she predicts more success for her team.

“With the way our passing and defense are, that motivates our hitters to get better,” she said. “When that happens, we will be able to compete with the better teams we play as we go along further into the season.”

Walters notes that her hitters struggle with their timing and hitting “on top” of the ball. Several spike attempts on Saturday were out of bounds.

“They’re just timid,” she said. “They need the confidence to be able to swing away.”

The Tiger Cubs have only played one WIC match to this point, losing to Sullivan last month.

They still have regular-season matches in the West Division against Northview (on Wednesday), South Putnam, North Putnam and West Vigo (on Thursday).

The Tiger Cubs kicked off a big week for them on Monday night with a win over Edgewood, a strong WIC foe which competes in the East Division.

“This week is really going to be a test for us to see if we can compete with teams who have more than one big hitter at the net,” she said.

The Tiger Cubs defeated Cloverdale in the first round on the Saturday morning opening match of the day.

North Putnam and South Putnam then met in the other semifinal. South Putnam used five straight service points from freshman Chloe Custis to open up a 17-7 lead, and put the first set away at 25-14 on a kill by Miranda Bieghler.

The Eagles won the first set 25-13.

North Putnam came back to win the second set 26-24 after trailing 24-23, scoring the final three points to force the deciding third set (to 15 points).

The match was played evenly, being tied at 5-5, 9-9, 13-13 and 14-14. The teams jockeyed back and forth with the Cougars finally coming away with two straight points to win 21-19.

Greencastle won the final match by scores of 25-16 and 25-19. The Cougars had opened up a 6-3 lead early in the first set, but four straight service points by Mckenzie Woodall helped open up a big lead.

The Tiger Cubs led the second set 10-8 when Maggie Meyer served two straight points, including an ace, to give her team a little breathing room.

The Cougars cut the deficit to 23-19 on a kill by Abby Simmerman, but Meyer served the final two points and her freshman sister Lily getting the final point for her team with a spike.

Greencastle was led on the day by Maggie Meyer with 17 digs, Allison Stevens with seven kills, Jada Amis with eight kills, Lilly Meyer with 10 digs, Macy Clark with four blocks, Jalyn Duff with 23 assists, Ivy Wright with 13 digs and Mackenzie Woodall- with eight digs.

First semifinal

Greencastle 25 25

Cloverdale 21 22

Second semifinal

North Putnam 14 26 21

South Putnam 25 24 19

Championship

Greencastle 25 25

North Putnam 16 19

In other volleyball:

Greencastle 3, Edgewood 0 — The Tiger Cubs picked up a big win over the Mustangs on Monday night, defeating Edgewood 25-16, 25-12 and 25-19.

The Tiger Cubs were led on offense by Jada Amis with 10 kills, Lilly Meyer with eight kills and Jalyn Duff with 31 assists.

Maggie Meyer led the defense with 21 digs. Jalyn Duff added nine digs, while Mackenzie Woodall also added eight digs.

The Cubs host Northview Wednesday night.

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