Freshman Macy Bruton looks to score for the Athenians.
Isabel Viveros returns a ball for Crawfordsville in a 3-0 loss to Greencastle.
Hallie Gayler goes up for a spike against the Tiger Cubs.
It was a good start and a decent finish, but a rough middle for the Crawfordsville volleyball team in a straight-set loss to Greencastle.
The 23-25, 10-25, 18-25 loss drops the Athenians to 1-1 on the season, after a win over Sheridan earlier in the week.
“Greencastle is a good team,” Crawfordsville coach Kelly Johnson said. “They are experienced and have played a lot of volleyball. We are learning, and this team is going to do a lot of great things. They (Greencastle) were a little more relaxed than we were.”
The first game of the match was trending Crawfordsville until late.
The Athenians were leading 22-17 when the Tiger Cubs ran off seven in a row after a timeout. They closed out the set a point later.
“We weren’t getting to our positions,” Greencastle coach Maggie Walters said. “We were weren’t focused very well or mentally in the game yet. We made some small adjustments in the timeout.”
The momentum of that comeback carried over into the second set that was owned by the visitors with the 25-10 win. Senior middle hitter Allison Stevens had six kills and an ace in the set.
“We’ve got two hitters,” Walters said. “It always gives us a big in the front line, and our hitters know our sets and swing accordingly.”
Stevens finished with 19 kills and Lilly Meyer had 11 for the visitors. Sophomore setter Anna Zellers, who was playing on the junior varsity two weeks ago in practice, has been promoted to varsity after an injury to another starter. She finished with 33 assists.
“They play to the middle,” Johnson said, “and we had to try and stay away from letting them set to the middle or not pass there. We can’t get tight when teams make a run like they did. You just have to bear down and endure.”
The third set started all Tiger Cubs as they jumped out to a 20-8 lead.
The Athenians scored 10 of the last 15 points to close the gap. Macy Bruton had three points in that stretch, as the freshman finished with a team-high 10 kills. She added four digs.
Abby Bannon had nine kills for Crawfordsville, to go with a pair of service aces. Laine Schlicher had 13 assists and the freshman also had an ace. Isabel Viveros had 11 assists, while Olivia Reed had seven digs.
“If we could have finished off that first set, it might have been a very different night,” Johnson said. “We are a young team with unlimited potential. They are a fantastic group of young ladies. We are going to get some quiet personalities out of their shells. That communication will help get us into the flow of the game.”
Greencastle moves to 2-1 on the season and are back in the county next Tuesday with a match at Southmont.
The Athenians go to Putnam County Saturday for an invite hosted by North Putnam.
