Once the Greenwood volleyball team reaches 20 points in a set, the objective is to shift into afterburner mode.
That isn’t to say it always happens, but on Tuesday it did.
The Woodmen won their first Mid-State Conference match of the season, downing host Whiteland, 25-16, 25-19, 25-11 to improve to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in league play.
“It’s a pretty big rivalry because we all know one another,” said Anna Cruser, Greenwood’s senior libero and the team’s emotional leader. “Most of the time, I’m the one screaming, jumping around and acting stupid just to get everyone else excited. I feel like when the energy is there, the playing comes along, too.”
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Junior Jenna Armstrong and freshman Brooklyn Bell finished with five kills apiece for Greenwood, while senior Siena Halfaker and sophomore Ella Stiver picked up four each. Halfaker chipped in two service aces before injuring her right ankle with her squad ahead, 13-4, in the third set.
“The trainer here at Whiteland said it looks like a bad sprain, to put a boot on it,” first-year Greenwood coach Natalie Kitchin said of Halfaker’s injury. “She’ll check up with our trainer tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.”
Mya Ayro, a sophomore, had four aces on the night. She served 11 consecutive points for the Woodmen in the third set, taking what had been a 1-1 tie and turning it into a 12-1 Greenwood advantage. Two of Bell’s kills occurred during this sequence, as did an Ayro ace and a Stiver block.
The first two sets were far more competitive, particularly the second. It was there Whiteland held leads of 5-2 and later 11-9 before the visitors rallied and surged ahead, 17-13. Led by senior outside hitter Sarah Scott (six kills, four aces), the Warriors clawed back with four straight points, but they couldn’t finish the job.
Consecutive kills from Halfaker made it a 20-17 Woodmen lead; Greenwood tallied five straight points after Whiteland had made what turned out to be its final charge.
“This is great, especially it being a 3-0 sweep,” Kitchin said. “The girls really built on their energy at the end. Whiteland did a great job of keeping their energy up the whole time, and I had told our girls that was something we needed to work on.
“Anna Cruser, my libero, does a great job with high energy. We’ve worked a lot on finishing, and once they get to 20, you finish. That’s really what the key thing was.”
Freshman Kennedi Morrison added four kills for Whiteland (2-4, 0-1).
Greenwood takes on another county rival on Thursday when it plays at Indian Creek. The Warriors are at home that same evening against New Palestine.
