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Bruton steers Crawfordsville past Greencastle
After a tough loss to one Sagamore Conference volleyball foe in Tri-West on Monday, Greencastle tried again Thursday night when hosting Crawfordsville.
The result remained the same as the Athenians took a 25-13, 25-20, 25-16 win though Tiger Cub head coach Denise Meyer said positive signs were making their way into the team’s play, just not all at once.
“There were some really good things tonight,” Meyer said. “As a team, we had 10 solo blocks.
“We’ve been working really hard on that but when you lean on one thing in practice, other things don’t run as smoothly as you want them to. There’s a give and a take.”
A slow start allowed the visitors to jump out to an 8-1 lead though Greencastle was able to take six of the next eight points, trimming the gap to 10-7.
Dealing with Crawfordsville senior Macy Bruton was a tall order, however, as the Athenians’ star hitter was constantly cutting off any attempt for the hosts to get into the first set, even going so far as to hit three of her 10 aces to close out the opening set.
The Tiger Cubs struck back with a 4-0 start to the second set and kept battling to keep the four-point gap intact at 15-11.
Crawfordsville would tie the set twice before taking a 20-19 lead though Madi Plew recorded a block to tie the set again at 20-20.
“We wanted that one but to Crawfordsville’s credit, they are very confident in their ability to control a game,” Meyer said. “We’re not there yet.
“If we don’t control the tempo, we get a little lost and a little quiet. Teams like Crawfordsville, they lost the tempo, they’re confident they’ll get it back.”
Bruton would make a difference once again, however, scoring from the back row and adding two more aces as the Athenians scored the final five points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The visitors threatened to run away with the finals et, taking a 10-1 lead and stretched it to 18-5 before Greencastle found a second win.
The Tiger Cubs briefly made the visitors sweat, closing the gap to six at 22-16 off a Makenzie Creviston kill, before Bruton laid in the last of her game-high 22 kills to finish the match.
Greencastle returns to action Tuesday against Southmont with Meyer seeing looking to see more positive signs against the Mounties.
“Right now, we’re getting these girls to buy in that they can compete point-to-point,” Meyer said. “They’re getting closer; we’re seeing spurts of it and I’m tickled to see that.”