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Greencastle bullies Cloverdale up front in three-set sweep
The Greencastle Tiger Cub volleyball team hosted the Cloverdale Clovers in a Western Indiana Conference and Putnam County matchup on Thursday night.
The two teams came in with similar records, but Greencastle established a dominance early with its size, depth and offensive power to defeat the Clovers in three sets, 25-7, 25-16 and 25-10. The victory boosted the Cubs to 3-7 on the season and 1-2 in conference play, while the Clovers dropped to 1-8 and 1-3 in the WIC.
The size and effectiveness of the Greencastle front line applied constant pressure all night long. The rotation of Keirsten Clark, Makenzie Creviston, Caroline Gooch and Madi Plew had the Clovers scrambling all night long.
“It was good to see our bigs be big and use their reach,” Greencastle head coach Denise Meyer said.
Early on the size was a factor as Creviston had three points and Gooch two at the net in an early run to put the Cubs up 7-1 and take control of the first set.
Emily Mann tried to rally the Clovers garnering three of the first four Clover points and had the match closer at 7-4. The Cubs went on an 11-2 run to break the set open. Gooch and Keely Amis controlled the net and Meilani York’s strong service game led to the 25-7 win.
“(Greencastle) just kept coming. They were certainly bigger than us,” Cloverdale coach Paige Glassburn said.
The second set was a closer contest as Greencastle led the game wire-to-wire, but never completely could get away from the Clovers. Greencastle slowly pulled away stretching a 9-6 lead to 16-8, then maintained the lead as they traded points for most of the remainder of the set.
Cloverdale struggled to get good opportunities to score all night. The Clover front line did not have a lot of chances and when they had chances, Greencastle’s size bothered them. The lack of opportunities was a result of Cloverdale struggling getting their offense set up according to Glassburn.
“We didn’t pass the ball very well tonight. We kind of struggled in our passing game and that hurt us,” Glassburn said.
Gooch had four kills during the stretch that opened the game open and was praised by coach Meyer,
“Caroline played really well tonight. She took 19 swings tonight and was 10-of-19. She was outstanding.”
The Clovers, facing long odds heading into the third set, seemed to be on the brink of getting run out of McAnally Center.
“We had a talk about their energy. I told the girls that they knew these kids from Greencastle. It is county school, they are friends. Just go have fun,” Glassburn told her squad.
Cloverdale did just that to start the third set. The Clovers jumped out to an early 7-2 lead over the Cubs and seemed poised to extend the match, but Greencastle’s size and depth took over as the smaller Clovers just could not keep up at the net.
“I am so fortunate for our depth. We have a great senior class and our junior class is strong. These freshmen, they are good,” Meyer said.
Plew, Gooch and Allie Landry scored on kills or blocks and York kept forcing the Clovers into trouble with her serves. The freshman had three aces in the final set and nine in the entire contest.
“(York) is really good behind the service line. We worked on that in practice and talked about our service pressure and how important it is. Where are we going to be at the end of the second set or the third set,” Meyer said.
Greencastle would end the final set on a 23-2 run to pick up the victory. The Cubs certainly did not look like a 2-7 volleyball team in this contest, but the team might be hitting its stride.
“It took us a while to understand how to play together and to understand who and where things are. We seem to be getting in-sync right now,” Meyer said.
Greencastle will enjoy the long weekend and then host Cascade Tuesday, while the Clovers will also play on Tuesday in a conference matchup against Owen Valley.