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Greencastle tumbles to Southmont in four sets
Sagamore Conference opponents have been unkind to Greencastle at the start of the 2022 volleyball season.
Southmont was the third-straight team from the northern conference the Tiger Cubs faced, arriving after a five-set win over North Putnam Monday, and the Mounties continued their winning ways in Putnam County by taking the match in four sets 24-26, 25-26. 25-22, 25-13 Tuesday night.
“The lineup was the same in set two as in set one, though we started to change things in that set,” Greencastle head coach Denise Meyer said when asked about the difference in starts between sets one and two. “We just don’t do well from behind.
“(Southmont) has some very good servers and we didn’t do as well in the serve-receive as we needed to. We weren’t fighting to try to find the offense and we need to figure out how to sustain offense when things aren’t going our way.”
Greencastle (0-4) started off strong with the first four points of the night and built up a 15-8 lead before Southmont began to settle in, trimming the gap quickly to 16-14.
The Mounties (4-3; 1-0 Sagamore) got to within a point at 18-17 but soon fell behind 22-18 after a Kylee Owens kills and ace from Maddie Landry.
Three errors from the Tiger Cubs and a kill from Dara Watson saw the visitors tie the match at 22-22 but they could not take the lead as Owens and Caroline Gooch recorded back-to-back kills.
Greencastle opened the door back up with a pair of errors to tie the match at 24-24 but a kill from Keristen Clark and a punch from Madi Plew in a lengthy final point saw the hosts take the opening set.
“Kylee had a game of her life out there,” Myers said about the junior. “She played extremely well and was efficient, transitioning and trying to get a hold of the ball.
Southmont responded by starting the second set up 11-1 and though the Tiger Cubs pulled to within four at 15-11, the visitors reestablished a 10-point gap at 22-12 and Watson ended the set with a kill at 25-16.
A much more even start to the third set saw the two teams tied multiple times up to 10-10 before Southmont opened up a five-point gap at 16-11 off a Regan Remley kill.
The gap grew to six at 20-14 and 22-16 before the Tiger Cubs took six of the next seven points with Owens recording a tip and kill to draw the hosts within one at 23-22.
An errant serve broke the momentum, however, and Mallory Mason found a hole in the Greencastle defense with a quick toss to end the set and take a 2-1 lead for the visitors.
The win gave Southmont the drive needed to make quick work of the fourth set, taking an early 9-4 lead off a Cheyenne Shaw kill as the lead steadily grew to 10 points at 22-12 off a Chelsea Veatch kill as the Mounties eased to a second win over a sectional opponent in as many days.
Owens led Greencastle with 10 kills. Olivia Richardville had 20 assists while Landry had 13 digs and Meilani York added 11 digs; both Landry and York had three aces.
Greencastle returns to action Wednesday night at Sullivan with JV starting at 6 p.m.