Gallery by Tina Laney
Greenbrier West came to Glen Daniel Tuesday night riding a 10-match winning streak.
When the Cavaliers loaded up to head home to Charmco, the streak had grown to 12 after a tri-match sweep of PikeView and Liberty.
The Cavaliers kept the winning momentum going with a 2-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-17) win over the Panthers in their best-of-three match before sweeping the home-standing Raiders, 2-0 (25-15, 25-12).
Although she was happy to see her team come away with two wins Tuesday, Greenbrier West head coach Cindy Nutter still sees room for improvement in her ball club.
“I thought we were actually playing a little down tonight, but they were able to pull it through,” Nutter said. “We have a very solid team, but sometimes they get a little too relaxed. I am trying to keep them from doing that, but it is hard to do sometimes.”
Nutter’s point could be seen not only in the first match, but in the first set against PikeView.
Leading 13-11, the Cavaliers ran off six straight points and maintained the eight-point bulge at 23-15. Six attacking errors allowed the Panthers to creep back within three points before West closed out the first set.
Preslee Treadway led Greenbrier West with four kills and Meagan Poticher had three aces.
In set two, PikeView looked like the team head coach Steve Compton has been looking for all season.
Trailing 8-6, the Panthers outscored West 9-1 to take a lead it would never relinquish. The Cavaliers would battle back to within two points late in the match on a kill and an ace from Poticher, but the Panthers sealed the win scoring four straight points.
Katie Begley and Haley Justice each had four kills in the win and Hannah Harden recorded three aces, while Riley Meadows had two.
In the final set, Greenbrier West looked like a team that had won 10 matches in row led by four bombs from Kadie O’Dell and three more from Poticher.
Trailing 8-7, the Cavaliers went on a 14-3 run and never looked back.
“Kadie can really rip it and Preslee is usually doing pretty good. Her timing was a little off tonight, but she has some beautiful tips. She sees the floor really well,” Nutter said. “Meagan Poticher is really doing a great job of blocking for us and she is learning how to hit the ball really well. I have also been working in two different right side hitters. Makayla (Alley) does a great job and Ava Barclay is learning as well. She has never really played volleyball at the high school level.”
Greenbrier West held a 16-15 lead on the home team in set one before going on a 9-0 run for an easy win. O’Dell had three kills and Poticher had a pair of blocks to go along with four aces from Riley Robertson.
Set two was no better for Liberty who struggled with West’s front line in a 25-12 setback. O’Dell recorded five kills and Treadway had three.
“I like what I see, but we do need to get a little more focused. As long as we keep going down the right path and keep growing, we will be fine,” Nutter said.
The strength for the Raiders this season has been their serving and their scrappy play on defense. In the final match of the night, those strengths were on full display.
After falling behind 3-0, the Raiders exploded on a 13-2 run and rolled to a 25-12 win.
The Raiders had seven aces in the game led by Josie Hartshorn with three, along with Nevaeh Yates and Dylann Trump who had two apiece.
Liberty ran out to an 11-7 lead in set two before PikeView stormed back to take a 15-13 lead. A serving error and an attacking error followed by two aces from Hartshorn turned the tide and the Raiders never trailed, winning by five points.
In the final set of the night, Trump had three aces, while Yates had two aces and two kills.
“I saw a team that was playing together the last two (sets). The first two, I didn’t see that. When they play together and they have a good time, this is the end result,” Liberty head coach Denise Arline said. “I told them in the first match that they looked miserable and it was making me feel miserable. I just wanted to get out there and play and have a good time. We played the game that Greenbrier West wanted us to play. We didn’t play our game. We played our game against PikeView and we were really good in the final match tonight.”
Outside of the second set against Greenbrier West, PikeView was plagued with self inflicted errors that led to its tough night.
“That is the way it has been all year. I wish I had an answer for it. It is nights like this that you question whether you can coach or not,” Compton said. “I just want them to relax and go play, but we seem to keep getting in our own way.”
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