GREENFIELD — One swing away from a sweep on Senior Night over rival New Palestine, Greenfield-Central’s Ava Antic called out to Ali Knecht with match-point hanging in the balance.
The senior outside hitter asked her senior setter for an assist to put the game away. Knecht came through for her classmate — sort of.
“I wanted that (kill). I told Ali to set me, and (senior) Kenley (Carpenter) told her to set her, too, and she ended up setting Kenley, but we had the overpass,” Antic said. “It felt real good.”
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Antic hammered home the game-winning kill in the third set, 25-11, to complete the Cougars’ 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-12) and push the team’s early-season streak to five straight.
The Cougars entered their home match on Thursday night as winners of their last four. Their victory over Hoosier Heritage Conference foe New Palestine (4-2, 0-1) made it five in a row as the Cougars (7-1) opened league play at 1-0. The loss snapped the visiting Dragons’ four-game winning streak in the process.
“There was definitely a little bit of pressure. New Pal didn’t have anything to lose coming in because it’s our senior night, it’s our gym, but I think we definitely spoke volumes in how we played tonight,” Antic said.
The Cougars made their statement in the first set, building a 12-5 lead behind a 9-2 run led by Antic and senior Makayla Price, who combined for 25 kills.
New Palestine rallied back, however, slicing the seven-point first-set deficit to two points on six occasions before a 3-1 run gave the Cougars the four-point victory.
“In home games, there are a lot momentum shifts, so we wanted to limit their runs and try to limit them to three points in a row. That way it evens out the playing field,” Antic said.
The Dragons were led by Kaelyn Armstrong with seven kills. Regan Kleiman and Jesi Hall both finished with four kills, but they weren’t able to keep pace after a hard-fought first set.
“They were really fired up that first set. I wish we could have continued that play throughout the match, but we just couldn’t last through the whole match,” New Palestine head coach Kelli Gabehart said. “Greenfield’s hitting was just dynamite. We talked at every timeout about our blocking, and it just didn’t make a difference.”
The key advantage for the Cougars came with maturity. Greenfield-Central has eight seniors on its roster and honored all of them prior to the varsity match against the Dragons.
During the first set as the errors mounted for Greenfield-Central, head coach Ron Heck decided against calling a timeout while the Dragons cut his team’s lead down to 14-12, 15-13, 16-14, 19-17, 22-20 and 21-23.
“That was just a testament to their mental toughness. We really don’t have to coach this group very much on the mental. We knew they would better themselves back up versus having to call a timeout,” Heck said. “In a situation like that, you have to let them work it out because if our opponent sees us calling a timeout, they’re going to be a little bit more pumped up because we’re playing nervous.”
Instead, a kill by Price and an error by the Dragons put the Cougars ahead 1-0.
In the second set, the Cougars ran away quickly with decisive 10-4 run to lead 19-10 before winning by 13 points.
“We’ve been building up to this situation for about a week and a half now,” Heck said. “We’ve challenged our girls to be more mentally tough because they have the skill on the court, so now they’re really combining the mental part and the skill.”
The Dragons tried to bounce back with 15 digs from Grace Myers, eight by Sarah Adam (who also finished with 13 assists) and eight more digs from Armstrong. But, the Cougars hitters took over in the third.
A 6-1 run by Greenfield-Central led to a 9-2 rally and an 18-4 lead en route to the 14-point set victory.
“In comparison to this season to last season, our offense is so much faster. We’re able to pass the ball with accuracy, distribute the ball with our setters to every one of our attackers. The results are quite obvious,” Heck said. “It’s exciting to coach this group of kids. Obviously, we’re very senior heavy, so it makes it fun.”
Price had 15 kills, followed by Antic’s 10. Antic recorded 12 digs, while Knecht had 19 assists. Morgan Hornaday posted 24 assists. Rachel Cambell had 19 digs and two aces.
“It was a complete game from every player that was on the court tonight,” Heck said.
The Dragons’ next match is at home on Tuesday against Hamilton Heights. The Cougars head to Cowan on Tuesday before hosting HHC powerhouse New Castle on Thursday, Sept. 10.
