Tiger Cubs prep for Cougars with sweep of Eels

The Greencastle Tiger Cubs made quick work of the Clay City Eels in a non-conference volleyball game on Tuesday night.

The host Cubs swept the Eels 25-13, 25-13, 25-14 in a match that featured Greencastle use big runs at various points in the match, getting contributions from a variety of players.

Greencastle was playing without two starters, Maddie Landry and Makenzie Creviston, but that didn’t slow down the Cubs. Keely Amis and Kylee Owens dominated the net while Allie Landry and Meilani York were serving well to boost Greencastle’s record to 14-10 while Clay City dropped to 7-9.

“We had to make some adjustments tonight that we didn’t foresee, but I thought the girls did a great job, just a great job. I thought we were tentative early, but when we got comfortable, they did what they needed to do,” Greencastle head coach Denise Meyer said.

Clay City battled the Cubs tough to open the night. The Eels took a 12-10 lead midway through the match on an Emma Baumgartner kill but the Cubs took off after that.

Allie Landry started serving down 12-11 and picked up five aces during the run to put the first match out of reach at 24-12 before the Eels picked up another point and the game was finished at 25-13.

York was able to serve early in the second set and set the tone with three aces to give the Cubs an early 10-3 lead over the Eels.

“Meilani was cleaning things up for us. She was really good,” Meyer said when asked about the run.

Clay City rallied a little, but Amis and Owens went to work at the net and Greencastle cruised to another 25-13 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

“We moved Kylee to the middle more tonight and she really picked it up. Keely had good swings and Allie Landry had some kills and served really well,” Meyer said.

Greencastle kept edging ahead in the final set as they turned a 9-6 lead into a 17-9 lead with points from Kyra Bandy, Owens, and Ellie Knuth.

The killer part of the run came on a pair of scoring opportunities by Lindy Watson and with the lead, the Cubs would finish with a pair of kills and an ace to punctuate a good night and the 25-14 finishing set.

“Lindy (Watson) came in for us tonight and did well. Being able to change things up this deep in the season and play well is really good for us,” Meyer said.

The Cubs will travel on Thursday for a Western Indiana Conference and a Putnam County Paddle game against rival North Putnam.