Eastern Greene chases first title in 15 years

White River Valley freshman Sydney Kail (3) tries to hit the ball past Eastern Greene blockers Scottie Ingram (7) and Brittany Igel (2). WRV will be competing at the Class A Shakamak Sectional while Eastern Greene will compete at the Class 2A Bloomfield Sectional. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World) [Order this photo]

It's a shindig that features the last two champions facing off on Saturday while the favorite gets an early start.

Thursday's opening-round match, slated for a 7 p.m. start at Guy Glover Gymnasium features that favorite against one of the underdogs when the 27-4 Eastern Greene Lady Thunderbirds and coach Gina Ingram take on the North Knox Lady Warriors, who come into the match with a 4-24 mark.

Bloomfield's Sarah Scott (3), Elyse Weddle (11) and Carina Rosalez have a chat during a regular-season volleyball match. The host Lady Cardinals will play at approximately 12:30 p.m. Saturday.(By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

"It was a good draw, we played them once," Ingram said. "My husband and I were talking about who do you want to draw and we've played them all.

"South Knox we've seen twice this year and North Knox we've seen the least. So as far as who I wanted to play, I didn't really have a team that I wanted to play."

Aside from getting the Lady Warriors, coached by former Union (Dugger) boss Tammy Meurer, in their opening round contest, Ingram feels her team has also benefited from the draw on the other side of the bracket -- possibly making their trek to Saturday's final just a wee bit easier.

There's another incentive that Ingram didn't mention specifically, but is likely in the back of her and her player's minds -- the winner from Saturday's championship match travels to Little Cincinnati for the regional next week.

"It (the draw) came out and North Knox is the team we've seen the most recent, so I felt that was a good draw and I thought it was nice that Linton and South Knox were in the other bracket," Ingram said. "If we advance to the final game I figured we'd end up playing Linton and that would be a nice final game, for them to be there."

When the action reaches it's second stage -- Saturday's semifinals -- one team is hoping to repeat history and the other is hoping to reverse it.

Linton-Stockton (17-14) will take on South Knox (3-24) at 11 a.m. in the first pairing of the day, a rematch of the title contest won last year, when the Lady Spartans upset the Lady Miners.

Linton-Stockton has not been able to use the same line-up throughout the season. It started with Samantha Butt injuring her ankle before the season started and continued throughout an up-and-down season.

"The story of our season has been our inconsistent lineup. We were plagued with injury and illness right from the get go until the very last regular season matches.

"I believe we could have had five or so more victories if we would have had everyone available to play. I am praying we have 12 healthy girls this week to help us finish strong in the tournament."

The Miners, who won the sectional in 2007, will have the role of underdog this season.

"I know we are not the favorite going in, but I really believe in my team," said Fougerousse. "If they are playing the kind of volleyball that I know they can play, we just might be able to pull off an upset or two and advance."

Fougerousse added that being off until Saturday could be good or bad.

"If everyone is back at practice this week, it will be a great to get the starters in rotation and have a full week with them," said Fougerousse. "We have some fine tuning to do on a few things.

"If the girls fail to generate excitement and aren't focused on the task at hand, then it will be a long week waiting until Saturday rolls around."

Fougerousse said they need to play with emotion, but also play with purpose.

"At one of our very first practices of the season, the girls asked me if I was going to coach with emotion. I told them that I didn't really know how to coach any other way," she said. "I hope they can use the emotional highs and lows we've experienced during the season to help them practice and play with one purpose in mind.

"I am excited about the improvements we've made and the things we are capable of doing. Now it's just a matter of it all coming together at the right time."

Ingram admits that Linton-Stockton might be the class of the rest field and was very complimentary when she summed up the rest of the field.

"Linton's scrappy," Ingram said. "They've got the most experience as far as a good history when it comes to winning sectionals. They're a very scrappy team and can dig anything up from the floor."

Bloomfield will again play the role of underdog when they face the winner of the Eastern Greene--North Knox match at approximately 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the second semifinal, much like they did in 2006.

The Lady Cardinals, who were being coached by Susie Schulte, had only won nine regular season matches and were being overlooked by virtually everyone.

Bloomfield beat Shakamak, White River Valley and Clay City all in five games, giving the Lady Cardinals their fifth sectional championship under Schulte's leadership.

Schulte is again in charge of BHS. The Lady Cardinals have struggled with consistency as they have posted a 9-20 record during the regular season.

"Sure I am going to talk about that 2006 team," said Schulte. "A couple of our seniors were freshmen on that team that upset Shakamak and Clay City, who were both ranked in the top five in Class A going into the sectional.

"We proved that everybody is 0-0 when the sectional begins. It will come down to who plays best on that night. You have to be ready to play, mentally and physically."

Ingram agrees with Schulte and admits that Bloomfield is a team to be very weary of, regardless of their record.

"I figure Bloomfield will surprise," Ingram said. "They'll throw some scrappy play at you."

Schulte said she that her team is very capable of playing well enough to win a sectional.

"We know that Eastern Greene is the favorite," said Schulte, a graduate of Eastern Greene High School. "They deserve that title because of how they beat everybody in the regular season. They have some young, talented players.

"If we have another chance to play them, we will have to play some of our best volleyball of the season to compete. But I know these girls are better than they have played at times this year. The favorite doesn't always win at the sectional. Look what happened to Linton last year against South Knox. Two years before that, nobody was giving us much of a chance to come through the long bracket against a couple of ranked teams. You have to win the first one and build a little confidence and momentum. Anything can happen. I know that, but the girls have to believe that."

Bloomfield has been using a serving line-up of setter Kendra Spelts, Sarah Scott, Hallie Retseck, Holly Zschiedrich, Shelby Gott and Ariel Fuller.

Elyse Weddle leads the team in kills. Taylor Gilmore, Carina Rosalez and Letitia Poe also have been part of the varsity rotation used by Schulte.

"We have to do a good job of passing and serve receive," said Schulte. "If you can't make the pass up to your setter, you cannot run an offense.

"I am looking forward to the challenge. I hope the girls are too."

Class 2A Sectional 45 at Bloomfield

Admission: $5 per session or $8 all sessions.

Match 1 -- Eastern Greene vs. North Knox, Thursday 7 p.m.

Match 2 -- South Knox vs. Linton-Stockton, Saturday 11 a.m.

Match 3 -- Bloomfield vs. Winner of Match 1, Saturday 12:30 p.m.

Championship -- Winner of Match 2 vs. Winner of Match 3, Saturday 7 p.m.