TUESDAY PREP ROUNDUP: Cubs, Clovers, Cougars win volleyball openers

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

The Greencastle volleyball team won its season opener 3-0 on Saturday against Cascade.

Offensively, the team was led by junior Allison Stevens with 12 kills and senior Jalyn Duff with 22 assists. Jada Amis and Lilly Meyer both added five kills.

Defensively, Makenzie Woodall led the team with 20 digs, while Duff added 12.

In other volleyball action:

Cloverdale 3, Southmont 2 — The Clovers started the season heading to Montgomery County to take on Southmont in Saturday morning action.

The varsity Clovers had to overcome some adversity early, down in sets 1-0 and 2-1. The second set nearly was dropped by the Clovers at 24-23 as the Southmont setter was called for a back row attack that, had her kill been allowed, would have sealed the set for the Mounties.

Hailey Thomas and the Clovers took advantage of the then-tied set at 24s to win set two 26-24.

“The first set we didn’t look comfortable from the start,” Clover coach Sam Jones said. “A lot of that lack of comfort stemmed from the good things Southmont was doing on their side of the court. Once we limited our errors and our serve-receive settled a little, we were able to establish a lot more control of the match.”

Tori Combs led the way with 19 kills for the Clovers.

“Tori is starting to create new, more innovative ways to score because we all know that her name will be on the top of scouting reports at every match we play,” Jones said. “One of the best parts about having a target on her back is that it allows our pin hitters to get more scoring opportunities. I thought Hannah Rady did a nice job of moving the ball around, and as the match continued she really understood who was going to score and got the ball to the right people.”

Kenzie Stoltz added 13 kills and Kayla Perdue had 11. Combs had six blocks, while Kassie Wade added four.

Thomas had 23 digs, with Rady and Stoltz retrieving 10 each. Rady led the way in passing with 41 assists.

“Our defensive crew of Thomas, [Kaya] Daub and [Morgan] Goss really worked their tails off,” Jones said. “They made a lot of adjustments throughout the match, and I liked seeing them work through some problems on the court with defensive alignment and roles/responsibilities.

Jones, in his first year as the Clovers’ head coach, likes how the players have adapted to his methods.

“We spent a lot of time in the summer working on scoring when we are out of system,” he said. “I thought that showed to be fruitful with our outsides both getting double-digit kills. I know I am asking a lot from these girls right now with changing almost every aspect of their game [offense, defense, serve-receive, etc.].”

Junior varsity — The Clovers JV squad started the day with a 2-0 (25-13, 25-22) victory over the Mounties. The first set was led by Aubree Branigan serving 17 points to help the victory for the Clovers, who were down 13-8 when Branigan first got back to the service line.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair with lots of long rallies, but the Clovers handled the pressure of Southmont’s defense to seal the sweep. Ashlynn Basore led the way with seven kills while Alexa Wynia had five. Branigan and outside hitter Lindsey Minton each had three kills.

Kacy Shedron dished out 15 assists while freshmen Abby Yartz and Bella Branneman steadied the defense with seven digs each.

Cougars sweep South Vermillion — At Clinton, North Putnam defeated the Wildcats 3-0 on Saturday.

No other information was available.

Golf

Chargers win triangular meet — North Montgomery shot a 211 on Monday to win a triangular meet. South Putnam was second with a 224, while Greencastle was third with a 240.

North Montgomery’s Maxwell was the medalist with a 44.

Drew Steffy led South with a 48 in the season opener for the Eagles. Leighla Hazlett added a 55, while Kate McCammack shot a 59, Alex Steffy had a 62, Kortnee Starks had a 63 and Brianna Flowers shot a 66.

Eagle coach Cassie Lehmann thought her team shot well for its first match of the season on a difficult course at Tiger Pointe.

“There were a lot of tricky holes with sand and tall grass that our girls have not played yet this year,” she said. “At times we let our thoughts get in the way of the shot more than the obstacles in front of us, but in the end we pulled out a very nice round.”

Lehmann was proud of each of her players.

“Leighla Hazlett had quite a few great drives that took her around 150 yards with quite a few nice putts on the green to round out her score,” she noted. “Our bottom three players really kept their heads in the game and rounded out a few very solid rounds for us as well. Without any seniors I feel that our young team has a lot of great things coming our way. “

Bailey Shuee led Greencastle with a 51, while Molly Ramey added a 54, Serena Patch had a 67, Jennifer Scott shot a 68 and Kadence Shaner added a 71.

“Bailey and Molly had good scores for the match, but our other three players struggled to keep from scoring double par on most of the holes,” GHS coach Steve Paquin said. “Inexperienced players have a very difficult time hitting shots, chipping, putting and keeping the ball in play on a course like Tiger Pointe. Playing is the only way to get the experience needed to lower their scores.”

With three first-year players, Paquin knows his players need to have patience to see their scores improve.

“With practice at the range and on the course, hitting the necessary shots to make a score will provide our inexperienced players the skill level to lower their scores,” he said. “Time and practice will make the difference.”

Cougars play at Southmont — On Saturday, North Putnam played its first 18-hole tournament of the season.

“The girls had a little fear at the start of the meet, knowing it was 18 holes and not nine,” North coach Linda Patrick said. “Perseverance was the key word of the day. As they progressed through the round, they started to relax, strokes began to drop and play became better.”

Abby Simmerman led the Cougars with a 112, while Brittany Bonifacius had a 126, Haylee Green shot a 129, Nyiah Goff had a 132 and Mady Williams had a 143.

“The girls were sent to the course to do their best, not worry about their scores, consider it as a good practice course for the conference meet and to have fun,” Patrick said. “With this in mind, and the support of many family members, it made a long day better. There are still things to work on individually, but I was pleased with more consistency and better swing transition by all the girls.”

Patrick noted a couple of specific areas of note.

“The short game practice we had during the week proved to be fruitful during the meet,” she said. “However, putting skills are in need of improvement before the next big meet.”

The Cougars travel to Rocky Ridge on Thursday to play North Montgomery, and play at Western Boone on Saturday in another invitational.