Pirate spikers sweep three games from Wildcats

Compiled by Aaron Kirchoff, Sports Editor, Greensburg Daily News

At the Saturday morning home conference match up with the Wildcats of Franklin County, Greensburg''s freshman and varsity volleyball teams both posted victories.  The varsity''s win was the second win of the season and the first EIAC win.

Starting the morning off were the freshman and junior varsity squads.  The freshman team won in a dominating manner and in only 40 minutes total time by the scores of 25-14, 25-16.

Coach Brain Dodson was unsure as to how his freshman would react to their first early game of the season.  "The girls cam to play.  The hustle was the best I''ve seen all season," noted Dodson.

The biggest factor of the win was in serving, as the Pirates went 46-for-51.  Krista Sexton led the team from the serve with 11 straight in the first game.  Erica Schwering led the team in kills with five of the 14 total team kills.  She also led the team with two aces of the teams eight total aces.  Tasha Heaton also finished with four kills.

The freshman improved to 4-2 on the season.

The junior varsity Pirates lost in two games 25-20, 25-18.

The Pirates had a good offensive effort with 15 kills - four by Tawna Chauncey.  Missed serves, though, led to their demise as they missed nine, added to the 12 hitting errors.

"Improvement is being seen everyday, so wins will be soon to follow," noted Greensburg coach Randy Obermeyer.

The varsity team won in three by the scores of 25-17. 25-14, 27-25.

"The team really came together for the early morning match.  They played with the same hustle and effort as they did down at Jennings County.  But this time, they were more determined not to let the match go to five games," noted Obermeyer.  "They had fun, they played their defensive positions well, and they were amazingly aggressive."

Game 1 and 2 showed a fairly even match at the beginning of each game with Greensburg pulling away at the midway point and holding a strong lead to the end.

"Franklin County took control over Game 3 by hitting us from different angles, and speeding up their offensive attacks," noted Obermeyer.

Franklin County had the lead at 11-4, then 16-6.

"I used my two timeouts explaining to them that they needed to start playing to win versus playing to keep from losing as they did in the first two games," noted Obermeyer.

Franklin County still led the game at 20-13, when April Hershauer began to serve.  She served two aces in the run that put Franklin County up only 20-17.  With the game on the line at 23-18, Amber Leitgabel began serving without faltering.  With help from Ciara Hershauer''s three kills, Greensburg tied the game 24-24.  As ace by Leitgabel put the Pirates in front 25-24.  With the score even at 25-25, a kill by April Hershauer put Greensburg up 26-25.  Then a finishing touch by Ciara Hershauer''s ace serve put the win on the board for Greensburg 27-25.

Leading from the attack line was Ciara Hershauer with 10 kills, April Hershauer with nine and Kelly Nicholson with eight.

As a team, Greensburg fired off 15 service aces, all coming from numerous players.  Setters Erica Oakley and Holly Kohrman ended the night with 15 assists each.  Ciara Hershauer also led in digs with 16.  Ashley Leitgabel led the team in passing the serve with 14.

The win puts the varsity at 2-9 on the season, and 1-3 in the EIAC.

Next up for the Pirates is Tuesday''s 5 p.m. game at home with Shelbyville.

Click here to see photographs of the Greensburg vs. Franklin County volleyball match.