GREENCASTLE – All six Crawfordsville seniors found their way into the stat sheets as the Athenians defeated Greencastle 3-0 to pick up their second win of the season.
It wasn’t pretty at times, but the visitors move to 2-0 overall with the 25-13, 25-20, 25-16 win.
“Things weren’t always going our way,” Crawfordsville coach Kelly Johnson said, “but we didn’t fold, we didn’t hang our heads. The girls responded, and it started with our seniors. They all did a great job.”
The first set saw the Athenians jump out to an 8-1 lead, but the Tiger Cubs, who fall to 0-3 on the season, rallied back to within three.
Crawfordsville took control back and cruised to the set win.
The second set was very different.
“We had a very slow start,” Johnson said. “We didn’t communicate well, were a little blah. We managed to pull ourselves out.”
Trailing 13-9, an Athenian timeout turned into the wakeup call, as they evened things up. They scored the last five points to take the set.
The third set was never in doubt. Cville led 10-1 and 18-4 before the Tiger Cubs found a few points.
“This is a great group,” Johnson said of her squad. It’s all about the team, they work together so well, they have so much respect for each other. We have players who can step in and either pick up the pace for us, make a play, or do the other things. We made a statement tonight that even when it isn’t your best night, you can still work hard and win. It was a good learning experience.”
Crawfordsville got another 20-plus kills from Macy Bruton, as the senior put down 22 after 23 in the season-opener against Sheridan. She was a huge force from the back line as well, with 10 service aces.
Hallie Gayler added 10, Devan Johnson had four, and Elyse Widmer had a pair of digs. Brooklyn Mills celebrated her 18th birthday with three kills.
Jessica Tribble had 35 assists, Halle Elliott had 21 digs to go with three helpers and an ace. Samantha Rohr had 10 points off service and added seven digs.
“Kaydence Brost is a huge role player for us,“ Johnson said of the junior. “She had a couple big swings. She finished with two kills.
The Tiger Cubs were led by freshman libero Meilani York with five aces. “She did a good job for them,” Johnson said
“We did a good job f blocking Bruton,” Greencastle coach Denise Meyer said, “but that led to missing some things elsewhere. We finished with 10 solo blocks, which is great. We are a young team, learning and working harder every day. We have started with three good opponents. Crawfordsville is a scrappy team and Bruton is a great player. We are working hard and hard work always pays off.”
The Tiger Cubs are back in action next Tuesday at home against Southmont, while the Athenians, after an eight-team Saturday tournament at North Putnam, travel to Riverton Parke next Tuesday.
