Back in black, Eastern Greeene spikers pick up win

SPORTS WRITER

Playing at home the Eastern Greene volleyball team decided to don their away jerseys to change their fortune at home. The superstitious switched worked, as the Lady T-Birds improved to 4-6 on the season with a 25-13, 25-16, 20-25, 25-17 win over Brown County Thursday night.

"This was a very good win for us tonight," Lady Thunderbird coach Gina Ingram said. "Everyone was dialed in tonight and we stepped up our play."

According to Ingram the aspect she was most impressed with was the passing.

"This was the best we have passed all season," Ingram said. "We had much quicker feet and everyone got to where they needed to be."

Benefiting the most from the passing were outside hitter Whitney Richardson and middle hitter Samantha Reed. Richardson finished with a game-high 16 kills while Reed threw down 10 kills of her own.

Richardson also had two points and 17 digs, while Reed chipped in with two blocks and one assist.

"Anytime you have two of your hitters combine for 26 kills, it's a good indication that your setters are putting the ball right on the money," Ingram added about the excellent play of her setters.

Handling the majority of the sets belonged to Rikki McCann. The sophomore dished out a team-high 18 assists on the night, to go along with 11 digs, 16 points and two aces.

Joni Crowe also was busy in the middle, as the senior registered nine assists and 10 digs.

Ingram was also impressed with the way her squad communicated on the court.

"This was just a great team effort tonight. I was really impressed with the way everyone talked," Ingram said. "The enthusiasm was great and everyone picked everyone up tonight."

Although the Lady T-Birds did not pull off the victory in straight sets, Ingram said the set they failed to win was still a good set.

"That third set was a battle as well, it was back and fourth throughout most of it," Ingram said. "They (Brown County) had one server that just gave us problems. But we were able to shut her down to start off the fourth set and that just set the tone."

Senior Alyssa Hauser finished the match with four points, five kills, two blocks and nine digs, while Nikki Butler recorded five kills, two digs and one assist.

Amber Polley led the team with 18 points from the service line, including four aces and added eight digs.

Ingram was also inspired by the performance of the junior varsity squad although they dropped a tough three set match, 25-17, 20-25, 15-11.

"The JV kids played extremely well tonight as well," Ingram said. "They just lost a heart-breaker. I felt that as good as the varsity was at passing, the JV passed the ball even better."

Brittney Igel finished with seven kills and 10 digs. Amber Polley recorded eight kills and 14 digs. Lydia Anderson, who is a senior and in her fist year of playing volleyball, registered a block, two kills and eight digs. Kelsey Wagner added seven assists and 11 digs, while Kierstin Southern recorded a kill and five digs and Jenna Crowe added eight assists to go along with nine digs.

"We are getting some big things out of our younger kids," Ingram mentioned. "They are all ready to step up and help the varsity out at a moments notice."

The T-Birds will return to action Saturday at the Loogootee Round Robin.