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Greencastle exits postseason play at Monrovia
MONROVIA – Three weeks ago, Greencastle hosted and was swept by Monrovia, not knowing the two squads would meet again just a short time later to determine who would join the remaining teams of IHSAA Volleyball Class 3A Sectional No. 25 in the semifinals.
The Tiger Cubs, flattened in the opening set Thursday, rallied in the middle of set two to tie the match at 1-1 but lost a similar race in set three and fell to the hosts in four sets 25-8, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19.
“(Monrovia) beat us in three the first time; two of them were close sets and the third was not close at all,” Greencastle volleyball head coach Maggie Walters noted when asked about the differences between the two meetings. “Our defense played a lot better than the first time around.
“We slowed their big hitters down by getting positive touches on the block. Our serve-receive was a lot better and we had more options in our offense as a result, something we didn’t have in the first meeting.”
Monrovia settled in quickly and put the visitors on the backfoot right away, never allowing Greencastle to develop any rhythm, especially as Shay Baker-Watson was setting the opening set with normal setter Anna Zellers working around an lower leg injury.
Zellers went back to setter in the second set with Baker-Watson moving back to libero, helping the Tiger Cubs get back on their feet, though the Bulldogs still looked to be in a strong position at 15-10.
A six-point run from the visitors turned things around, beginning a neck-and-neck climb toward 25 points that saw its end when the teams were level at 22-22.
Kills from Carmen Bridges and Juliette Tomamichel helped Greencastle net the final three points to win the second set and tie the match at 1-1.
“Our offense got more aggressive, as did our serving,” Walters said on the difference between sets one and two. “We did a better job of spreading things out, finding our hitters in the middle and the right more often, which got their defense out of system.”
The Tiger Cubs had pep in their step and started the third set with a small lead, one the hosts erased with a powerful front line attack that saw a six-point difference emerge at 14-8, a gap that would remain until the visitors took serve with Lilly Meyer trailing 19-13.
A five-point run trimmed the lead to one, leading to a frantic race back to 25 again.
Tied at 23-23, Bridges hit into the net and an ace from Madi McCubbins allowed Monrovia to escape with the third set and a 2-1 lead in the match.
“We didn’t execute at the end of plays,” Walters said about the final few points of the third set. “We just couldn’t put the ball away in the end.”
The visitors began the fourth set with another small lead that was followed by another Bulldog run in the middle of the set as McCubbins, once the score was tied 10-10, scored the next eight points for the hosts herself, helping to build a four-point gap at 18-14.
Greencastle would get the lead down to three points a few times from there but McCubbins was always ready to deliver another hit, closing the match with a pair of powerful kills to see the hosts through to the sectional semifinals.
“In a few of the other sets, (McCubbins) had more errors than normal,” Walters said of the Bulldog sophomore. “She cleaned up her play and she’s hard to defend.”
Greencastle finishes the season 15-13 with a 6-4 mark in WIC play, losing three seniors to graduation in Baker-Watson, Meyer and Bridges.
“All our seniors played very well,” Walters said about the departing class. “Every time Lilly went up for a kill, she was always executing. Carmen played good defense and Shay played well when we moved her back to libero.”
Meyer added the squad had plenty of talented players waiting in the wings but was also a group that needed experience to make the most of that talent.
“We’ve got some freshmen who are tall and we hope they can do some things for us in the future,” Walters said. “We just have a lot of inexperience.
“We’ve got some upperclassmen who have experience but then we have a lot of girls who haven’t played a lot of volleyball. Hopefully those girls will play club ball and get in the weight room this offseason.”