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GREENCASTLE VOLLEYBALL SECTIONAL: Eagles soar away from pesky Wolves
The South Putnam Eagle volleyball team extended its season on Thursday night at McAnally Center in the Class 2A Greencastle sectional. The Eagles took their opening-round match against the Parke Heritage Wolves in a three-game sweep, 25-23, 25-23, 25-18.
South struggled to put away a stubborn Wolves team in the first two sets before being able to extend a lead and get a more comfortable win in the final set.
“It was better than the first time we played them. They took us to five games and tonight was better,” South Putnam head coach Ellen Cash said.
The Eagles used contributions from all over the floor and overcame some unforced errors to improve their season record to 12-15 while the Wolves’ season ended with a 3-28 mark. The Eagles will now take on county rival and sectional host Greencastle on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Parke Heritage looked to be the aggressor early on in the first set, taking a quick 3-1 lead with Reaghan Benjamin scoring at the middle of the net. The Wolves would continue the quality early play and boost the lead to 9-5 on an Emma Simpson ace, but Joscelyn Pilcher answered with an ace of her own before Emmalyn Jeter knotted the set at 9-9.
The two teams would battle it out with some excellent play and some unforced errors, not allowing a lead of more than two points by either squad for the rest of the game.
The Eagles led 23-22 when Jeter came up big with two powerful kills to end the set and give South a 25-23 win and 1-0 lead in the match.
Jeter’s spikes seemed to have some extra emphasis that coach Cash appreciated.
“Emma is really good at that (powerful spikes) and she has done that for us all year,” Cash said.
The second set almost mirrored the first set in style and intensity. Again, the Wolves jumped out to a quick early lead and this time it was sophomore Chlara Pistelli who led the rally. Pistelli followed an Olivia Williams kill with two-straight aces a 7-4 lead.
The two teams would struggle with errors during the midpoint of the set, but a Pilcher dink ended the errors and the two teams would again battle a tight game with South Putnam making a run to go up 23-18 as Lainey Nolley notched an ace.
The Eagles looked to be in control at that point, but a handful of unforced errors led to an Eagle timeout as they would manage to scrape together the last points needed to take the set by an identical 25-23 score as the first set.
“Chlara has been a rock. She does a lot for us,” Cash said.
Seemingly stuck in the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ the Wolves took a 3-1 lead for third-consecutive set, but this time the Eagle rally was more emphatic.
South would go on a 15-3 run, highlighted by several contributors. Picher had a pair of blocks, Jeter had consecutive points with a kill and an ace, Woolums had two kills and Nolley picked up a pair of aces.
The Eagles seemed poised to end the game, but the Wolves would not go away. Parke Heritage kept chipping away behind Benjamin at the net and Hallie Miller from behind the service line. The Wolves cut the lead to 20-16, but beautiful dink by Kelsey Custis gave the Eagles a 22-18 lead and then another ace by Pistelli and a Parke Heritage error gave the Eagles the 25-18 victory.
“Kelsey had a great play in that last set. Joscelyn came up big all night,” Cash said.