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GREENCASTLE VOLLEYBALL SECTIONAL: Tiger Cubs maul Eagles; Mounties win lengthy first set, beat Panthers
Getting to the final of IHSAA Volleyball Class 2A Sectional No. 44 was the goal for Greencastle and South Putnam during Saturday’s morning session.
It was a task the Tiger Cubs took to heart, rolling through an Eagle side that was constantly on the back foot in a swift 25-14, 25-10, 25-12 victory.
“South Putnam can be a tricky team because they’re so good defensively, so scrappy and have a never-say-die mentality,” Greencastle head coach Denise Meyer said. “Our game plan was to control as much as we could control, so service pressure, transitions and be a presence at the net blocking.”
“Mostly, we beat ourselves,” South Putnam head coach Ellen Cash said. “We did not play our game; we played predominantly defensively and that hurt us the most.”
The beginning of set one was the only portion in which both teams were on relatively equal footing as South Putnam, despite trailing 5-1 at the start, was able to keep close as a Kelsey Custis ace pulled the Eagles to within two at 12-10.
From there, however, Greencastle took off as the combination of strong service pressure and an aggressive front line allowed the hosts to take 13 of the last 17 points for a 1-0 lead in the match.
Maddie and Allie Landry would follow by rocking the visitors from behind the service line, collectively recording five aces as part of a 10-1 start to set two.
Keirsten Clark, Caroline Gooch and Madi Plew added multiple kills around two more Allie Landry aces to quickly wrap up set two.
Set three was somehow even better for the home team, who started out with a 13-0 lead and held a 19-2 lead before South Putnam was able to show some late fight.
Chlara Pistelli landed a pair of aces while Joscelyn Pilcher was able to record a kill and ace, helping the Eagles reach double-digits before the home team finally closed out the match and took their place in the sectional final.
South Putnam finished the season 12-16 and 3-7 in WIC play, a hard comedown after winning a county and sectional title the previous year.
“Even though we had four seniors, we were a very young team,” Cash said. “Two of our seniors sat out last year and a third had to play JV as a result of transferring.
“We only had three girls coming back from last year’s squad and next year, we’ll have more returning than this year, so that should be good.”
Southmont def. Riverton Parke 31-29, 25-13, 25-19
The Mounties survived a tense first set against the Panthers before completing a sweep to advance to the sectional final.
An extremely tight first set saw neither team able to create separation though Southmont was able to apply pressure by reaching set point first, eventually getting five chances to close the set out but failing to do so each time.
Riverton Parke had its own look at winning the set but Cheyenne Shaw provided a critical block to tie the set at 29-29.
A missed attack and an ace from Tayler Anderson eventually got the Mounties over the line in the first set and the momentum carried over as Southmont steadily built up a lead over the course of the second set, turning a 10-5 lead into a 20-9 advantage that was not challenged.
Riverton Parke was able to hang around better in the third set, cutting a 15-11 lead down to 16-15 and was within two points at 20-18 before the Mounties took five of the last six points to finish the match.