The Eastern Greene High School volleyball team finished their invitational on Saturday with a 1-2 record. The host Lady Thunderbirds dropped the opening match against Washington Catholic 25-16 and 25-19, defeated Medora by the same identical scores before falling to Shakamak 26-24 and 25-18.

In the first match, Eastern Greene coach Gina Ingram said that her squad did not come out ready to play and Washington Catholic made the T-Birds pay.

"We came out flat, almost asleep," Ingram said. "Washington Catholic is a scrappy team but they didn't throw anything out at us that we couldn't handle. They capitalized on our errors and worked to win the match."

Ingram mentioned that she was not too impressed with the play she received from her team in the second match either, and was glad to be able to pull out the win.

"In our match with Medora we played pretty much with the same intensity as we did in the first match," Ingram pointed out. "We made the routine plays look difficult, our communication was flat and almost non-existent. Thankfully we pulled the win out."

In the Lady Thunderbirds final match, the team came alive against the defending Class A sectional champs, and Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference foe. Although the T-Birds came up short in their bid for their second win of the season, Ingram was pleased with the effort she saw on the floor.

"Maybe knowing that Shakamak is a rival they girls got up for that last match and were scrappy," Ingram said. "All day we went with different line ups and against Shakamak we went with a line up which was faster. We looked more like a team in this match.

"Shakamak is a very scrappy team too and never gives up. Serve receive gave us a little bit of a problem there in the second game but we looked much better."

Senior Caitlyn Frye, who is normally the libero for the T-Birds, was used in a more demanding role in the three matches and according to her coach, she rose to the occasion.

"We worked Caitlyn all around and she handled it very well," Ingram said. "She gets into the plays and we have a tendency to feed off that energy."

Ingram mentioned that as a result, the team will look to use Frye in that role more and more as the season progresses.

In the three matches, Frye accumulated eight kills and registered 10 digs.

Outside hitters Alyssa Hauser and Whitney Richardson were active on both the defensive end and attacking the nets. Hauser finished with a 12 digs and had a team-high 10 kills. Richardson, who is just a sophomore, led the team with 21 digs and had eight kills.

"Whitney and Hauser were just solid all the way around today," Ingram said of her two outside hitters. "They worked hard and were solid leaders on the floor."

Sophomore Jenna Crowe made her varsity debut over the weekend and impressed her coach with her play.

"Jenna stepped up in the Shakamak match to have a great match," Ingram said of her sophomore reserve. "She was a huge factor for us on the defense side as a setter. She is quick and a hard worker."

Crowe has four assists and nine digs.

Older sister, Joni, also had a solid showing for the T-Birds. The senior finished with 12 assists and four digs.

Rikki McCann led the team with 19 assists and tossed in eight digs as well.

"Rikki was consistent today," Ingram said of her sophomore setter. "She worked well with Jenna in the Shakamak contest and the two make a nice duo."

Middle hitter Samantha Reed had nine kills, four digs and one block, while Lydia Anderson contributed with two digs, Amber Polley had two kills. Tomi Pierce had one kill and four digs and Nikki Butler chipped in with five digs and one assist.

The Lady Thunderbirds will return to action on the court Tuesday when they travel to White River Valley for their first conference match of the season.