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Greencastle claims county title off of North Putnam
CLOVERDALE – For the first 10 points of Saturday’s Putnam County Volleyball Championship final, North Putnam looked in prime position to defend the crown it won the previous year.
Greencastle looked on the ropes but was allowed to regain its footing and, with a late rally, won the opening set, gaining with it the confidence to slam the Cougars in the second set as the Tiger Cubs returned to their perch atop the county with a 26-24, 25-16 win.
“North Putnam is so strong offensively and so disciplined in serve-receive, we thought our difference maker would be our strength at the net,” Greencastle head coach Denise Meyer said. “We didn’t start that way and we told the girls they would get kills as they have a lot of strong offense.
“We focused on doing what we could to slow things down at the net and allow our defense to transition into offense and run it from there.”
“(Greencastle) is definitely a good blocking team, scrappy and getting better every single game,” North Putnam head coach Jenny Heron said. “We have to figure out a way to fix our mistakes and be tougher when games get tight.
“We have to make those big plays and that’s something we’re still learning how to do.”
As it had done earlier in the day against Cloverdale, North Putnam stormed out of the blocks in the first set, opening with a 9-2 lead as Greencastle struggled to handle the early pressure.
The Tiger Cubs would steady themselves, though, scoring the next five points to close the gap to two at 9-7 before the Cougars slowly stretched the lead back out to six at 18-12 off a Lexi Daigle ace.
Once again, Greencastle began to reel North Putnam back in, using a 7-2 run to move to set point off a Mackenzie Creviston block.
A serve into the net and a point allowed the Cougars to tie the set at 24-24 but Creviston produced another block off of Ashleigh Riley and Caroline Gooch followed with a kill to win the opening set for the Tiger Cubs.
“Those moment were big moments,” Meyer said about the pair of Creviston blocks. “Those are big moments for the blockers and a big momentum pusher for us.
“We were neck-and-neck with (North Putnam) right there and that close was huge. Momentum can shift quickly but also carry over and when you end a set with the momentum, that’s big.”
Buoyed by its success, Greencastle came out strong in set two, taking an early 10-4 lead off an Olivia Richardville ace.
North Putnam cut the gap in half at 13-10 but would get no closer than that as the momentum had shifted in the Tiger Cubs’ favor.
The lead grew to seven off a Gooch kill at 19-12 and while the Cougars trimmed the gap to five twice, a pair of Maddie Landry aces and a block from Madi Plew put Greencastle on championship point with an errant serve enough to send the Tiger Cubs back to the top of the county standings after a three year hiatus.
The two schools will meet again on Sept. 29 with Heron noting play away from the net needed to improve between now and then.
“Serving and passing will be a big part of it,” Heron said about seeing Greencastle later in the season. “The team that passes better usually wins.
“Our serve-receive has to continue to get better in practice and in games, especially with having four games this week.”
For Greencastle, a team that started 0-7, the pair of wins Saturday made it seven wins in-a-row, moving the team to .500 for the season while also showing how far the team had come given the uncertainty that came with then beginning of the season.
“It’s wonderful and I love it for the girls,” Meyer said about the surge after a slow start to the season. “I love it for our seniors to have this win and proud of all of them.
“These girls have embraced the idea they are one, they are a team and work together to get things done.”
Consolation Game
South Putnam def. Cloverdale 25-18, 25-22
The Clovers started off strong with a 6-0 lead as the Eagles looked lethargic to start off the consolation match.
Cloverdale continued to keep its lead until 15-7, when South Putnam finally picked itself up and proceeded to score 12 of the next 13 points, turning the set around before closing with six of the last seven points, capped by a Lainey Nolley ace.
The Clovers started off the second set with a small lead but despite getting ahead, the Eagles slowly lost the lead as the hosts moved ahead by three at 12-9.
South Putnam scored the next four points but Cloverdale grabbed the next three to retake the lead at 15-13.
The lead swung back to the Clovers at 17-15 before a five-point run gave the Eagles a 20-17 lead, only for Cloverdale to tie the match one final time at 22-22 off an Erin Johnson ace.
A point from Emma Jeter and a Chlara Pistelli ace was enough to see South Putnam across the line in the end.
“The girls didn’t come out with all guns blazing,” South Putnam head coach Ellen Cash said about the sluggish start to the round. “We played defense but we were trying to defend our way to a win instead of pushing out on offense and getting the job done.”
“The girls played really well in the second game against South Putnam,” Cloverdale head coach Paige Glassburn said. “We saw them at the beginning of the year and both teams have improved a lot since them.
“For us to come out and play with them the way we did, if we had a couple of more girls on the bench we might have been able to pull that one out. I’m proud of the girls for playing the second game as well as they did coming off of the first game.”
Game One
Greencastle def. South Putnam 19-25, 25-22, 16-14
The Eagles never trailed in the opening set of the Putnam County Volleyball Championship but the Tiger Cubs were able to make it close midway through the set, closing a five-point gap down to one at 16-15 and 17-16.
A four-point run from South Putnam gave the Eagles a 21-16 lead that Greencastle was not able to challenge as Jeter ended the set with a block for a 1-0 lead in the match.
Set two turned into a point-for-point affair as the teams kept things tight until South Putnam briefly turned a 19-19 tie into a 22-19 lead.
The Tiger Cubs rose to the challenge, taking the final six points with Madi Plew on serve, the junior recording an ace to tie the match at 22-22 and Keirsten Clark ending the set with a kill.
Set three took a similar line to set two as the teams rarely allowed for a run of more than a point or two at a time until a three-point run from South Putnam made it 12-9.
Greencastle rallied back as Gooch tied the set at 13-13 before Jeter put the Eagles on match point with a kill.
Clark saved the match with a block before Keely Amis moved the Tiger Cubs to match point with a kill and an errant shot ended the match.
“We did get the job done,” Meyer said about getting through the opening game. “We still have work to do because we have to see South Putnam later in the season.
“We know we have things to get after and know that (South Putnam) will be doing the same.”
“It came down to our girls letting silly mistakes give points away,” Cash said. “When we got down a couple of times, we got mentally down with the score.
“Instead of staying up and staying in the game, we had to pull ourselves back up first.”
Game Two
North Putnam def. Cloverdale 25-10, 25-17
The Cougars bulldozed their way through set one, scoring the first eight points and running out to a 15-2 lead before a few late free shots allowed the Clovers to reach double-digits before the set ended.
Cloverdale briefly held a lead in the opening of set two as North Putnam did not have the same focus as the start of the match.
From 5-5, however, the Cougars slowly began to pull away, turning a 12-9 lead into a 20-11 advantage that would eventually see North Putnam claim the second set and a spot in the final.
“We came out strong,” Heron said about the hot start to the match. “We served very well, especially in the opening set.
“Set two, we struggled to get into a rhythm a little bit but we were able to pull it out.”
“North Putnam is a very good team,” Glassburn noted. “I don’t think our girls were quite awake yet to face them.”