All the way back
Greenfield volleyball beats CCS after 2-0 deficit
By Jack Frederick jfrederick@wilsontimes.com | 252-265-7824 | Twitter: @_jackfrederick
Down 2-0 to cross-town rival Community Christian, the pressure should have been weighing down the Greenfield School varsityvolleyball team. But the Lady Knights didn’t play like it was.
After ending up on the wrong side of a 26-24 decision in the second set at the Peace Church gymnasium Thursday night, when Greenfield’s 22-18 lead lead was erased, then the Cyclones eventually took control, the game completely changed in the third set.
Greenfield (3-4) senior Kaelyn Wall related it to a robbery of energy from the home team that carried the visiting Knights all the way back for a 16-25, 24-26, 25-8, 25-20, 15-11 victory.
“We got all the energy off the court,” Wall said. “We took it from the other team and really used it.”
As Greenfield started to collect the confidence and energy leaking from Community Christian, it marked a change from the direction the first two sets had gone.
To start the match, Community Christian played a much tighter game, leading from the fifth point on in the first set, with a lead ballooning as high as 11 points before winning the opening match point by nine.
In the second set, the Knights came out and took control of the direction midway through the set. But just three points away from answering to make it 1-1 ahead 22-18, Greenfield’s streaky play started swinging back in the other direction.
After a battle at the end of the set, the Cyclones tied the game 24-24 and won the last two points to take a commanding lead. It would take a massive undertaking for Greenfield to win the match.
“Early, we were confident, we were moving, we were talking. ...” Cyclone head coach Kelly Bradshaw said. “And then once we made a couple mistakes where they would make good plays, it was like they put all that pressure on themselves and they were hurting the team.”
Bradshaw said it was after her team had enough poise to rally all the way back when her team’s confidence started to deflate, by the start of the third set.
“Once Kaelyn (Wall) got hot at the net, just tips, punch, finding the holes, it got in my girls’ heads. We kind of shut down,” Bradshaw said. “It’s hard for them to get back going. They get down and they make one mistake and it’s hard for them to get back going.”
After seeing relative success in the first two sets, Wall took over in the final three. Her teammates began setting her up often for powerful spikes that at the least put the Cyclones on their heels, and at most ricocheted off the court for a slew of points in a row.
“I felt like I was really feeding off the energy of the team, especially after serving got us all up and energized,” Wall said. “I fed off of that to get my spikes.”
Finishing with a whopping 27 kills and adding 10 digs and five aces, Wall was all over the court making diving saves, commanding space at the net and leading her team on a comeback.
After winning the third set dropping just eight points and at one point going on a 13-0 run, Greenfield swung the momentum again in the fourth set on a 6-0 run after a 15-15 tie, shortly after closing out the set after staving off a scare by the Cyclones.
The Knights wasted no time jumping out to a lead in the final set. Greenfield lept to a 10-3 lead that was enough to prevent an 8-5 run the rest of the match from making the game too close for comfort.
After coming all the way back from a near-defeat, the Greenfield players and fans erupted as the game was won.
“It felt amazing,” Wall said. “We haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”
Helping Wall and the rest of Greenfield to the victory, sophomore Ysabelle Saldi contributed 29 assists. Gabriel Vester had the next highest kill total with six and Riya Patel led the team with 15 serve points.
In the loss, Lauren Pate was a huge part of her teams efforts. She finished with nine kills and nine aces.
Reeves dished out a team-high 16 assists for New Hanover.
West Brunswick 3, North Brunswick 0 (25-16, 25-16, 26-24)
The Trojans (3-4, 1-1 Mideastern) swept the Scorpions (0-9, 0-2) to claim their first MEC win of the season.
Mackenzie Turner led North Brunswick with six kills, while Jayda Rascoe had a team-high 12 digs.
Greenfield volleyball beats CCS after 2-0 deficit
By Jack Frederick jfrederick@wilsontimes.com | 252-265-7824 | Twitter: @_jackfrederick
Down 2-0 to cross-town rival Community Christian, the pressure should have been weighing down the Greenfield School varsityvolleyball team. But the Lady Knights didn’t play like it was.
After ending up on the wrong side of a 26-24 decision in the second set at the Peace Church gymnasium Thursday night, when Greenfield’s 22-18 lead lead was erased, then the Cyclones eventually took control, the game completely changed in the third set.
Greenfield (3-4) senior Kaelyn Wall related it to a robbery of energy from the home team that carried the visiting Knights all the way back for a 16-25, 24-26, 25-8, 25-20, 15-11 victory.
“We got all the energy off the court,” Wall said. “We took it from the other team and really used it.”
As Greenfield started to collect the confidence and energy leaking from Community Christian, it marked a change from the direction the first two sets had gone.
To start the match, Community Christian played a much tighter game, leading from the fifth point on in the first set, with a lead ballooning as high as 11 points before winning the opening match point by nine.
In the second set, the Knights came out and took control of the direction midway through the set. But just three points away from answering to make it 1-1 ahead 22-18, Greenfield’s streaky play started swinging back in the other direction.
After a battle at the end of the set, the Cyclones tied the game 24-24 and won the last two points to take a commanding lead. It would take a massive undertaking for Greenfield to win the match.
“Early, we were confident, we were moving, we were talking. ...” Cyclone head coach Kelly Bradshaw said. “And then once we made a couple mistakes where they would make good plays, it was like they put all that pressure on themselves and they were hurting the team.”
Bradshaw said it was after her team had enough poise to rally all the way back when her team’s confidence started to deflate, by the start of the third set.
“Once Kaelyn (Wall) got hot at the net, just tips, punch, finding the holes, it got in my girls’ heads. We kind of shut down,” Bradshaw said. “It’s hard for them to get back going. They get down and they make one mistake and it’s hard for them to get back going.”
After seeing relative success in the first two sets, Wall took over in the final three. Her teammates began setting her up often for powerful spikes that at the least put the Cyclones on their heels, and at most ricocheted off the court for a slew of points in a row.
“I felt like I was really feeding off the energy of the team, especially after serving got us all up and energized,” Wall said. “I fed off of that to get my spikes.”
Finishing with a whopping 27 kills and adding 10 digs and five aces, Wall was all over the court making diving saves, commanding space at the net and leading her team on a comeback.
After winning the third set dropping just eight points and at one point going on a 13-0 run, Greenfield swung the momentum again in the fourth set on a 6-0 run after a 15-15 tie, shortly after closing out the set after staving off a scare by the Cyclones.
The Knights wasted no time jumping out to a lead in the final set. Greenfield lept to a 10-3 lead that was enough to prevent an 8-5 run the rest of the match from making the game too close for comfort.
After coming all the way back from a near-defeat, the Greenfield players and fans erupted as the game was won.
“It felt amazing,” Wall said. “We haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”
Helping Wall and the rest of Greenfield to the victory, sophomore Ysabelle Saldi contributed 29 assists. Gabriel Vester had the next highest kill total with six and Riya Patel led the team with 15 serve points.
In the loss, Lauren Pate was a huge part of her teams efforts. She finished with nine kills and nine aces.
Reeves dished out a team-high 16 assists for New Hanover.
West Brunswick 3, North Brunswick 0 (25-16, 25-16, 26-24)
The Trojans (3-4, 1-1 Mideastern) swept the Scorpions (0-9, 0-2) to claim their first MEC win of the season.
Mackenzie Turner led North Brunswick with six kills, while Jayda Rascoe had a team-high 12 digs.
