GREENFIELD — Unforced errors were the downfall for Greenfield-Central Wednesday.
The Cougars volleyball team fell to 1-2 on the season after losing to Greensburg in three sets, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21.
The first set was a back and forth battle between Greensburg’s Ella Chapman and Greenfield-Central’s Mya Grigsby.
After a few early kills by Chapman to give Greensburg the lead, 9-6, Grigsby responded with three straight kills of her own to tie the set at nine.
A Greensburg run to make it 18-11 was followed up by a Greenfield-Central rally to make it 18-16, forcing a Greensburg timeout.
Following the timeout the Pirates regained control the remainder of the set.
Unlike the first set, the Cougars were in front midway through the second, grabbing a 12-6 lead. But that was about the extent of the Cougars success on the night, as Greensburg stormed back to tie the game at 13.
The rest of the set was back and forth, eventually finding both teams tied at 23. After the longest volley of the night, Greensburg found its go-to player and Greenfield-Central’s biggest problem of the match, Chapman, for the go-ahead kill.
“She’s a very good player. She’s a big, strong outside who can put the ball down,” Greenfield-Central head coach Jon Vernon said. “It was our plan to try and get her out of system. We had some success early on, but it’s just a case where when you have someone who can hit like that, a lot of times with no blocking, we’re just hanging out our (defensive specialists). It’s hard to make a pass when they have no block on the ball.”
Outside of G-C’s late seven-point surge in the third set, cutting the deficit to 23-21, Greensburg was in total control throughout.
The Cougars made it difficult on themselves throughout all three sets, committing 31 unforced errors on the night, including having the wrong person serve on one occasion.
“When you make 31 unforced errors, you can’t win with that. It just can’t happen. It’s the silly things. We basically gave them a set and a half,” Vernon said. “Because of our unforced errors we just didn’t finish tonight.”
The Cougars are back in action Tuesday at Connersville.
