With a girls state golf championship trophy already in hand, Greenwood High School hoped to add to the trophy case last Saturday with a 6A state volleyball title as well, but the Lady Bulldogs came up short, losing to Russellville in the tournament finals at Valley View High School near Jonesboro. The GHS girls were the defending 5A state champs, but moved up in classification over the summer, and still acquitted themselves very well against bigger schools and tougher competition.
In October, an upset win over Russellville started a winning streak for the Lady Bulldogs that helped them reach the championship match last Saturday. But the Lady Cyclones got some payback, sweeping Greenwood in three straight games, 25-22, 25-23, and 25-17 to claim the state title.
"I think [Russellville] played better (Saturday), bottom line," said GHS head coach Jennifer Golden. "They are a very good team. They came out and just played better than we did. We fought extremely hard, but (Saturday) they were just the better team. They did their homework from the past few times they played us, and I think it showed."
The Lady Bulldogs (17-14) and Lady Cyclones (25-11) split their earlier two conference matches, with Greenwood winning at home on October 18th. It began a streak of five straight wins, the last three coming at home in the 6A state tournament, hosted by Greenwood.
Trailing 19-13 in the opening game on Saturday, Greenwood rallied to tie the score at 20 before Russellville regained the lead on consecutive kills. The Lady Bulldogs closed to within one at 23-22, before Russellville got two more kills on the next two plays to claim the first game.
Russellville jumped out to a 9-3 advantage in the second game, but Greenwood battled back and eventually took a 21-20 lead. But an untimely service error led to three straight points by the Lady Cyclones, and they finished the game with a pair of kills.
In the third game, the Lady Cyclones opened up another sizable lead at 18-10. But the Lady Bulldogs refused to go away. A kill and an ace from freshman middle hitter Erin Black started a 7-1 run, slicing Russellville's lead to two points. But a kill and a block on the next two points halted the GHS momentum, as the Lady Cyclones' frontline continued to make big plays down the stretch.
Greenwood senior outside hitter Alexa Black had six kills and four aces in the match. Junior outside hitter Maddie Gilliam led the Lady Bulldogs in kills with seven, with Erin Black adding six. Erin Black also had five assists, while senior setter Danielle Cagle finished with four.
To reach the finals, the Lady Bulldogs had to win three matches in the 6A state tournament, hosted by Greenwood over three days, Tuesday through Thursday, October 30th - November 1st. On Tuesday the fifth-seeded GHS girls defeated Texarkana handily in three games, 25-15, 25-14, 25-13.
Against the Lady Razorbacks, Maddie Gilliam finished with 11 kills, while freshman Erin Black had nine kills and 15 assists. Alexa Black had five aces and Ariel Pinkston recorded four digs. Also, senior Mary Scott had seven kills, four of which produced points in the third game.
Greenwood faced Jonesboro in the quarterfinal round of tournament play last Wednesday at H.B. Stewart Arena, defeating the Lady Hurricane in three games, 25-18, 25-19, and 27-25. Greenwood trailed 17-16 in the first game before ending it with a 9-1 scoring blitz. The Lady Bulldogs jumped ahead 8-3 and 15-7 in the second game before winning by six. In the third game, Greenwood trailed 14-12 before an 11-4 run put them on top for good. Erin Black had 26 assists, 11 digs, five kills, and three blocks in the match. Sister Alexa Black added 10 kills and a pair of aces. Sophomore Ariel Pinkston had two aces to go along with nine digs.
The Lady Bulldogs needed five games in Thursday's state tournament semifinal match against Marion. But in the decisive fifth game, Greenwood jumped ahead 6-0 and never looked back for a 25-19, 17-25, 25-15, 22-25, 15-6 win at H.B. Stewart Arena, earning the right to play for the state title against Russellville at Valley View High School.
"We came out knowing we were going to have to battle, and it was a great game," said coach Jennifer Golden. "I'm glad it was the game it was, going into the state championship game. I like to see the fight in the girls and the gut checks, just to see what they have and what it's going to take. It was nice to see," said the coach.
While the Lady Bulldogs have had their share of ups and downs this season, playing 7A schools and getting the fifth seed out of the East at the 6A tournament has paid off, according to Golden. "We attribute the way we've been playing to the schedule that we've had," said the coach. "I don"t think we would be in the position we are right now if we hadn't played those tough teams and competed the way we did, so it's definitely helped us."