Pirates second at Lawrenceburg

Compiled by Aaron Kirchoff, Sports Editor, Greensburg Daily News

The Greensburg varsity volleyball team traveled to Lawrenceburg for a 6-team tournament consisting of Lawrenceburg High School, Oldenburg Academy, Hauser High School, Taylor High School, South Ripley High School and Greensburg.

To show just how close the Pirates were all day long, Greensburg scored 152 points and gave up 158. That''''s just an average of two points per match or less than one point separating the teams per game.

Greensburg started the morning off against the Oldenburg Academy Twisters, which had just won their first game of the morning against Taylor in a three game barnburner.

"Oldenburg stepped onto the floor unable to dominate us as they did when we played them at their home court a few weeks ago when they were at the best their coach had seen them all season," noted Pirate coach Randy Obermeyer. "We knew what we had to do to beat them, and we went in with the same game plan as in the last time we met. We knew their weaknesses, as well as their strengths. We focused on the latter and were able to capitalize on their weaknesses, but this time we did it without a hiccup."

It was redemption this time for the Pirates, winning the match 25-18, 25-22.

In the next match against Taylor, Greensburg took complete control of the first game of the match winning 25-15. Taylor rebounded to win the second game, 25-20 to secure a third contest. A scrappy defense for Taylor picked up every hit, tip and dump to set up for the 25-17 victory.

Due to Oldenburg taking three games to beat the Pirates, Greensburg was able to win the pool by winning percentage and move onto the championship match against host Lawrenceburg.

This made the third time this season, the Pirates and Tigers played - with twice last week alone.

After Lawrenceburg won the first game, the second was a tight contest with 13 ties up to a score of 19-19. At 24-22, a close call on a ball on the endline gave the host Tigers the game and the championship.

"I am extremely pleased with the performance of these young ladies today. They showed the compassion and court savvy that it takes to win games. They never stopped being positive when things started to go south, and they were able to come up with plays themselves to get us out of a bad rotation without me having to call for a time-out," noted Obermeyer.

Leading the day in passing was Ciara Hershauer with 46 attempts and only three errors. Kelly Nicholson was next with 50 attempts with only four errors. Holly Kohrman ended the day with only 23 passing attempts, but made no errors. Leading in set assists was Kohrman with 28. The attack leader was Ciara Hershauer with 17 kills, while Nicholson knocked down 16. Erica Oakley took over behind the tape as she toed it for seven aces, while Kohrman stayed one under her for six aces.

"I was pleased to see a much-improved Brittany Redelman in the line-up today in the match against the Tigers. Brittany is a very hard working young lady, with a heart of gold, and can flat jump out of the gym. With her work ethic and determination, she too, in time will be a leader on the stat board," noted Obermeyer.

The Pirates are now 3-13 on the season and 1-4 in the EIAC. Greensburg hosts South Dearborn at 5 p.m. today. The Pirates then host North Decatur at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Both matches will be played in the Field House instead of the main gym.