The Greeneville Lady Devils volleyball team defeated the Johnson County Lady Longhorns 25-15, 25-14, 25-19 on Tuesday to improve to 4-6.
This past weekend, the Lady Devils faced tough competition in the Sunsphere Tournament in Knoxville. They took on five teams and finished the tourney with two wins and three losses.
Greeneville coach Sara Aiken thinks playing those tougher teams might have helped the Lady Devils improve.
“We had talked about some improvements we wanted to make,” Aiken said. “I can’t really say if they met that goal. They have to answer that for themselves. But overall, I’m proud. We came in and executed better on offense, better than we have been.”
Johnson County didn’t make it easy for the Greeneville offense, however. Aiken said their defense, digging in particular, forced the Lady Devils to adapt.
“I think playing tough teams helps,” she said. “We gained some confidence playing at that level. Johnson County digs all kinds of stuff and it’s really good for our offense to see a team like that, a team that just keeps digging.”
The one Lady Devil who didn’t seem to have an issue finding holes in the Lady Longhorn defense was Leah Ford, who recorded a team-high eight kills.
“She makes a lot of things happen,” Aiken said of Ford. “She has a high touch point, such a good whip snap. I think people are looking for her at that slight build to not be so aggressive. (She) gives the team a lot of momentum after big kills like that.”
In the first set, the teams were neck and neck with Greeneville holding a 7-6 lead before scoring six in a row, started by a Ford kill. Johnson County closed the gap to 14-10 before the Lady Devils added six more points in quick succession to make it 20-12.
Greeneville made short work in the final minutes of the opening set to win 25-15, highlighted by another Ford kill.
In the second set, the Lady Devils jumped to leads of 6-1 and 11-3, with Kyla Jobe and Destani Bailey hammering kills and Trudi Aiken serving an ace.
The Lady Longhorns’ offense picked up a bit but they weren’t able to gain any ground. Greeneville matched each Johnson County point with one or more of its own to take the second set 25-14, with Kinley McCaslin getting the final point with a kill.
Johnson County played a much better set three, but with the set tied 7-7, Greeneville scored five straight, including a kill by Ford and a perfectly placed tap by Alexis Marante.
With Greeneville leading 22-13, Johnson County reeled off five straight points to threaten a fourth set. Aiken called a timeout with the score 22-18 to get her team back on track.
“They needed to focus on the fact that they’ve done these things and scored points in this scenario hundreds of times,” she said. “They needed to go back to that and not panic, not close in and play timid, but play aggressive and close it out.”
After the timeout, the Lady Devils set up a successful kill for Jobe to make it 23-18. The Lady Longhorns added one point, but another Ford kill followed by a miscue from Johnson County ended the set 25-19.
Jobe finished with eight kills, three digs and an ace; McCaslin had two kills, two aces and seven digs; Trudi Aiken had three aces and 17 assists; and Brynlee Jones had six assists, three digs and two aces.
Greeneville plays at Elizabethton at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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