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Lady T-Birds hold off Linton-Stockton
With a little more than a third of the Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference volleyball season gone, the pileup at the top of the standings got a little clearer Thursday night after Eastern Greene handed Linton-Stockton an 18-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-13 loss at Linton.
With the win, the Lady Thunderbirds join North Central as the lone remaining undefeated teams in the SWIAC race.
"If we ever go into a match like we did tonight, the good Lord only knows what will happen," Eastern Greene coach Gina Ingram said. "Just like I talked to the girls, this should be a good eye-opener for us."
On the season they improved to 17-1 and 3-0 in conference while knocking the Lady Miners from the ranks of SWIAC unbeatens at 2-1 and dropped their season mark to 10-5.
"If we don't play well we're not going to be able to do anything -- and we have to," Ingram said. "We can win the conference, but North Central is solid and North Daviess is improving.
"We can't overlook anybody. If we do we can count that as a loss."
On the other side of the court, Linton-Stockton coach Jill Fougerousse knew her team was facing a solid opponent -- an opponent she anticipated would be difficult to defeat.
"We knew it was going to be a tough match, probably our toughest all year," she said. "We thought we had a good game plan -- and I thought we did.
"Our girls have been working on their conditioning and I told them if we can win that first one and push them into set three and four and five, we have a chance to make it happen for us."
Linton-Stockton began the match with a flurry taking the first set before falling victim to the size of the Lady Thunderbirds.
"We were very flat right at the beginning," Ingram said. "I think we were very flat footed and Linton was very scrappy.
"Linton wanted to win the match and they came out hard and aggressive, played with a lot of determination."
When asked if she thought the Lady Thunderbirds might have went on the floor overlooking the Lady Miners, Fougerousse said it could have been a factor.
"We played them in preseason in our camp and we played right with them then," Fougerousse said. "We knew it was going to be a tough match and we knew we could be successful if things fell the right way."
After trailing wire-to-wire in the opening set, Eastern Greene began clicking on all cylinders -- those cylinders being hitters Scottie Ingram, Casie Divine, Brittany Igel and Whitney Richardson.
"From that second set on Rikki (McCann) got a lot better passes to work things around the middle," Ingram said. "So that made her a lot more versatile."
The frontliners combined for 41 kills, with Ingram (16) and Richardson (11) both reaching double digits -- and getting plenty of support from Divine (6) and Igel (8)
With the senior setter (36 assists) running the offense, the Lady Thunderbirds slowly took control of things.
"From the beginning I thought our passes were pushing Rikki on the net," Ingram said. "Anytime they put her on the net she's not going to get a look for our outsides or middles."
In the second set they shook off a dozen deadlocks and survived five lead changes to expand a 16-15 lead into the set's final margin.
"We started playing more along the lines of the way we should be playing," Ingram said. "Then won the next two and then won the last one with a little more authority."
With an improving performance in the third set, the Lady Thunderbirds streaked to a 5-1 lead that stretched to 9-4, 15-9 and 17-12 before they were forced to stave off what was still a challenging Lady Miner squad.
Linton-Stockton managed to trim the gap to 18-14 before a serving run by Leanna Bailey opened the margin to 23-16.
The fourth and deciding set began as a tight duel but the momentum quickly shifted in favor the visitors when they managed to break the last of the set's four ties.
From there they took full advantage of the size difference and closed with a 7-0 run.
"(In the last set) we started overpowering them a little bit more at the net," Ingram said. "And had a little bit more intensity in the back row."
While the loss puts the Lady Mines in a position to need help from other teams in earning a share of the SWIAC title, Fougerousse isn't going focus on what's not in their grasp, but rather on what they can control.
"We'll just play our matches and whatever happens between Eastern and North Central, that's between them," Fougerousse said. "I'm just focused on what our girls are going to do and how the rest of our season's going to go.
"We're looking forward to that day that we're ready to play sectionals."
Linton-Stockton won the junior-varsity contest 25-15, 23-25, 15-7.
The Lady Thunderbirds return to action Saturday when they host Washington, South Knox and Pike Central while the Lady Miners host North Central on Monday.
Eastern Greene 18 25 25 25
Linton-Stockton 25 18 17 13
Varsity stats
Eastern Greene
Casie Divine -- 7 points, 6 kills, 9 digs, 5 block assists.
Brittany Igel -- 7 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs, 2 block assists.
Sam Reed -- 3 kills, 6 digs, 4 block assists.
Whitney Richardson -- 9 points, 1 ace, 11 kills, 6 digs, 2 block assists.
Rikki McCann -- 1 kill, 36 assists, 8 digs, 7 points.
Leanna Bailey -- 5 points, 8 digs.
Chelsey Bailey -- 3 digs.
Kierstin Southern -- 3 digs.
Scottie Ingram -- 9 points, 16 kills, 20 digs, 1 solo block, 3 block assists.
Linton-Stockton
Sydney Lehman -- 13-13 serving, 1 ace, 13 kills, 13 digs.
Bradlea Beard -- 6-8 serving, 14 digs, 2 block assists, 1 kill, 30 assists.
Jannae Jackson -- 3 kills, 6 digs.
Savannah Mason -- 14-15 serving, 26 digs.
Courtney Barnes -- 14-15 serving, 2 aces, 21 digs, 2 solo blocks, 4 block assists, 9 kills.
Ashley Cooper -- 10-11 serving, 1 ace, 10 digs.
Hali Murray -- 7-9 serving, 1 ace, 12 digs, 1 block assist, 9 kills.
Kayla Cox -- 2 kills, 1 assist, 5 digs, 1 block assist.
Junior varsity stats
Peyton Gilliatt -- 7 points, 4 digs, 2 blocks, 2 kills.
Tori Milhoan -- 7 points, 12 digs, 9 assists.
Darci Abell -- 2 points, 5 digs, 1 kill.
Anna Jenness -- 1 point, 3 digs, 5 kills.
Taylor Schulz -- 2 points, 8 digs, 1 kill.
KIerstin Southern -- 4 digs, 1 kill.
Chelsey Bailey -- 8 digs.
Linton-Stockton
Carlie Booe -- 1 kill, 13 assists, 8 digs, 9-10 serving, 1 ace.
Brianne Karazsia -- 8 kills, 9 digs, 12-14 serving, 1 ace.
Courtney Johnson -- 12 digs, 12-13 serving, 2 aces.
Kylie Kramer -- 17 digs, 3 aces.
Emily Rehmel -- 1 dig.
Frankee Hancock -- 4-5 serving, 1 dig.