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Mission accomplished: Lady Tiger Cub spikers win first sectional title since 2002
LINDEN — The last time Greencastle won a volleyball sectional most of the players on this year’s team were either in diapers or not even born.
That all came to an end Saturday evening as the Tigers Cubs defeated Lebanon 25-14, 25-14, 22-25, 25-14 it win its first sectional crown since 2002.
“I can’t tell you how proud of this team I am,” fifth-year head coach Maggie Walters said after the final match. “I talked to the girls about how long ago it had been since we had won a sectional and I said it was a long time ago. This team put in the time and effort and accomplished something great tonight.”
After winning a thrilling five-game match against Crawfordsville in the morning session (23-25, 25-9, 25-13, 22-25, 17-15) the Tiger Cubs came out ready to play in the championship match against Lebanon and took an early 9-4 lead. From that point on, Greencastle kept pulling away thanks in part to the play of junior Jada Amis.
In that first game, Amis accounted for six kills for points as Lebanon had no answer for her.
“She got off to an outstanding start,” Walters said. “I don’t think she had a single hitting error in that first game and she got us going.”
After taking the first game, Greencastle did not let its foot off the gas. Mckenzie Woodall served for the first six points in the second game and the Tiger Cubs were off and running again. Lebanon managed to cut the lead to 6-5 before Jayln Duff and Lilly Meyer served for the next 11 points and the lead ballooned to 19-7 before three Lebanon service errors helped to close out the game 25-14 and give the Tigers Cubs a 2-0 lead.
Lebanon put up a fight in the third game and led 7-2 at one time and 14-7 midway through the match. However, Greencastle was able to cut the lead to 19-18 before the Tigers ran off the final six points to take the game 25-19.
“I think we got a little too relaxed in that third game,” Walters said. “We talked about getting the focus back between the third and fourth games and we came out fast to start that fourth game.”
While the game ended by the identical score as the first two games, this one was tight until Greencastle scored 14-4 to close out the game.
Amis led the Tiger Cub hitters with 17 kills and when she wasn’t doing the damage sophomore Allison Stevens did as she recorded 11 kills. Ivy Wright added seven kills and had 23 digs and Maggie Meyer had numerous saves and ended with 23 digs. Duff handed out 35 assists.
“Maggie had a great match,” Walters said. “She was everywhere, making saves, directing us. She is like having a coach on the floor. She is such a great leader.”
Walters said the team picked the perfect time to be playing its best volleyball of the season.
“On Senior Night against Owen Valley we played pretty well, it then we struggled down the stretch “ she said. “We put it all together tonight and we needed to. This is what happens when we play the way we are capable of playing.”
Greencastle (15-10) will play the second match at noon on Saturday at the Danville Regional against (Northview or Brown County).
Narrow escape
Just getting to the finals nearly didn’t happened, as the Tiger Cubs were on the brink of elimination but ended up winning the fifth game in the morning match 17-15.
With the Athenians leading 15-14, a possible net violation against the Tiger Cubs was not called and the point went to Greencastle, tying the score 15-15. A kill by Stevens followed by a kill by Amis gave the Tiger Cubs the 17-15 victory.
Crawfordsville won the first game of the match 25-23 but the Tiger Cubs dominated the second and third games 25-9, 25-13 before losing the fourth game 25-22.
“We started a little slowly, but we got it back in the second and third games,” Walters said. “Having two big girls who were challenging them with kills and blocks eventually made the difference. This was a great team win.”
Amis led the team with 14 kills, while Lilly Meyer added 11 and Stevens had 10. Maggie Meyer led the team with 36 digs and Wright had seven kills and 18 digs. Duff had 26 assists, five aces and 11 digs.