Five weeks ago, the Greenwood volleyball team went down to Indian Creek and won in straight sets.
The Braves certainly played as if they had a score to settle on Wednesday night. Taylor Burkett and Morgan Frash led a fiery Indian Creek team to a surprisingly easy 25-12, 25-16, 25-23 road win over the Woodmen in the opening round of the Johnson County tournament.
“We weren’t the same team (in the first match),” Indian Creek coach Andi Ferris said. “We were going through some ups and downs, and that was our lowest low of the season right before we played them. So it was good to see what kind of team we are now.”
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Indian Creek (17-7) will play a semifinal match against Franklin, which coasted past Edinburgh in straight sets, 25-9, 25-10, 25-10. The other semi will pit top seed Center Grove against Whiteland, a three-set winner over Greenwood Christian in Wednesday’s other first-round match.
Back-to-back aces from Avery Hensley and three Burkett kills helped Indian Creek build an early 7-1 lead in the opening set. The Woodmen (12-13) back to within three points when an Alyssa Stilley block made it 9-6, but they couldn’t get any closer. Kills from Malea Brownfield and Burkett capped a six-point Indian Creek surge that stretched the margin out to 21-10, and the visitors put the set away shortly thereafter on a block by Frash.
“I felt like we had some really good passes that allowed us to get some sets and attacks,” Indian Creek coach Andi Ferris said. “Sometimes when our passing’s off, we struggle to get where we want to go, but I felt like our passing was really strong there in that first set and our serves were really strong too.”
The Braves used a run of eight straight points, seven of them on the serve of Brownfield, to build a 13-4 cushion in the second set. Kills by Joy Maze and Stilley fueled a short Greenwood run that cut it to 14-9, but a Hensley kill out of a timeout slowed Greenwood’s momentum, and Indian Creek maintained an advantage of at least five points the rest of the way. Burkett kills accounted for four of the Braves’ final eight points of the set, with Frash again putting down the closer.
Greenwood took its first lead of the evening when it went up 4-2 early in the third on a Lawson Roberts ace, and the game remained tight much of the way, with nine ties and four lead changes. Indian Creek used a run of five straight points on the serve of Makena Hogue to pull in front at 18-15, but the Woodmen fought back to tie it one last time at 23-23. The Braves, though, again got the last word, going ahead on a Hogue kill and sealing the deal on the next point.
The Woodmen were reeling a little bit with Lauren Battinau out due to an ankle injury, but coach Amanda Ratliff wasn’t making excuses.
“(Indian Creek) definitely wanted it,” she said. “I think it was kind of a revenge factor since we beat them earlier in the season at their place — and also just the county tournament, you kind of have a little extra motivation. I think it’s just a common theme for us of struggling with confidence in big games and feeling pressure; it’s something we’re still working on.”
For the Braves, who have won six in a row and 10 of 11, the early-season struggles feel like a distant memory as confidence continues to build.
“We were just hyped about the whole thing,” Frash said after Wednesday’s match. “We want to win this year. We’re out for blood. We’re ready to go, just take it and run.”
At Whiteland, the Warriors (11-15) got 10 kills from Hannah Williams in a 25-15, 25-11, 25-22 victory over GCA. Sarah Scott had five service aces in the win, while Sarah Staples added four.
