In the first of two county battles for the Pirate volleyball team this week, Greensburg went five games with visiting North Decatur on Tuesday. But it was work it for the Pirates. Greensburg won the first game 25-20 before dropping the next two to the Chargers 25-17, 25-23, but the Pirates rallied to win the last two games 25-17, 15-11 to take the match.
Game 1 saw North leading 9-3 in the early going. Still leading at 19-15, North found it difficult to pass Erica Oakley''s serves. Oakley served eight times and landed three aces in the process. The Pirates used the momentum to take the opening game.
The second game was tied 17-17, before three Charger kills helped North tie the match at one game each.
Two straight points after a 23-23 tie gave North Game 3.
The Pirates jumped out to 10-5 lead in Game 4 and went on to force a fifth game.
In Game 5, a run of seven serves by Kelly Nicholson with help from Ciara Hershauer and Carolyn Moore at the net, pushed the Pirates to a 14-8 lead. North made a push to get back in the match, but fell short 15-11.
"Improvements were seen tonight in every part of our game. We got a lot of touches on balls tonight while blocking, which helped to slow the attacks down for us to dig. Our passing was awesome when it really needed to be, which made it easier for the setters to do their job. The setters moved to the ball very nicely, and communicated well", said Pirate head coach Randy Obermeyer. "It''s nice to see things going good for this team right now, especially getting this close to sectional."
For the Pirates, Ashley Leitgabel made 12 digs on 19 attempts and 21 passes on serve receive with only two errors. Holly Kohrman also dug for 11 with only one error. Moore turned up the heat at the net tonight as she stuff blocked six. Kohrman also added 15 assists to her stat sheet with Erica Oakley finishing with 13 assists. Ciara Hershauer ended the night with 11 kills. Oakley served 20-for-21 with five aces.
The big problem on the night for North was serving. The Chargers had 14 serving errors in the game.
"I think we were a little off tonight. We have not had a game like that all year where we missed that many serves. We couldn''t get into a rhythm serving like that," said North coach Betsy Davis. "Their (Greensburg) hustle was applause worthy. You can''t beat a team that hustles like Greensburg does making the mistakes that we made."
One player that did not have a problem at the service line for North was Alicia Holtkamp. She served 24-for-24 with one ace and 16 points.
"Alicia really stepped up for us serving tonight," said Davis.
Also for the Charges, Alisha Ploeger guided the offense with 34 assists. Breanne Schoettmer, coming off a week out due to injury, had nine kills, 16 digs and three blocks. Sarah Nobbe added 14 kills and three blocks. Lauren Miller finished with nine digs and Jordan Gahimer had 16 digs. Ashley Pulskamp had big night with 21 kills and 12 digs.
Greensburg won the reserve match 25-19, 25-7.
Greensburg coach Andrea Wynn commented that her team really picked up their game in the past week.
"We are communicating, moving the ball, and working well as a team. As a coach I couldn''t be more proud of the improvements we have made," said Wynn. "We were down in the first game 7-2 and found the composure to come back and win."
Leading in digs for the Pirate reserves was Amber Leitgabel with five and no errors. Mollye Leas led the team in passing from the serve with eight and no errors and in kills with four. Jessica Morris topped the servers with seven aces. Setting leader April Faulconer ended the night with six assists. The win brings the reserve Pirates record up to 4-8 on the season.
For North, Emily Holtkamp had five points, three aces and two kills. Sarah Wallpe added three kills and four digs. Amanda Buell had seven assists, one kill and two digs. Kelly Harman had one kill. Megan Miller and Jill Tichenor both chipped in with five digs.
North won the freshman contest 25-21, 25-21.
"It was a great win for the girls," said Davis. "The girls have really come on this season and I couldn''t be more proud."
The Chargers had no missed serves in the two games. Courtney Schroder had 10 points and five digs. Megan Asher finished with three kills and eight digs. Tichenor contributed five aces, nine points, seven kills and seven digs. Ann Schwering tallied 10 assists and six digs. Stephanie Barber served on ace and four points. Tori Simpson had four points, once ace and three kills and Gina Catanese finished with six digs.
Lack of focus according to Greensburg coach Brian Dodson was the cause of the defeat.
"Up 12-3 in the first game, we couldn''t hold the lead to secure the victory. The little things turned into big problems tonight, now we have some work to do for this weekend''''s EIAC tournament at Franklin County," noted Dodson.
Kim Kamman went 10-for-12 from the line with two aces and two blocks. Erica Schwering went 10-for-10 from the line to score seven points. The loss drops the freshman Pirates to 5-5 on the season.
North travels to Morristown on Thursday while the Pirates head to South Decatur on Thursday.
Click here for photographs of the Greensburg vs. North Decatur volleyball match.