After a successful weekend tournament in Missouri earlier this month, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs have stumbled out of the gate in 5A West conference play, dropping their first two matches and three of their first four. They also split two non-conference matches before resuming league play this week at Shiloh Christian and Farmington on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The Lady Saints and Lady Cardinals are currently the conference leaders, both at 4-0.
The GHS ladies returned from the Show Me state and pulled off a notable 3-0 sweep of traditional 6A power Fort Smith Northside, teasing of better things to come, but then reality set in as they faced Siloam Springs and Russellville to open league play, both 3-1 losses. A 3-0 non-conference loss to Bentonville-West followed before they broke through in league play against Alma with a 3-0 victory at home last Tuesday. They then dropped a 3-1 match to Van Buren last Thursday. Then on Saturday the Lady Bulldogs split a pair of non-conference matches in tournament play, losing to Fort Smith Southside 3-0 and beating Paris, 3-1. Greenwood will travel to Springdale on Tuesday to face Shiloh Christian and to Russellville on Thursday.
Siloam Springs
The Lady Bulldogs hosted the match on Tuesday, September 9th, and lost a late lead in the first game before dropping the contest in overtime, 25-27. The Lady Panthers then won the second game, also in close fashion, 25-22, before Greenwood rallied to win game three, again in overtime, 28-26. Finally, the visitors took the fourth game and the match, 25-19. Overall, Greenwood lost three games by a total of 11 points and was only outscored by nine points in the match.
Greenwood was slightly outplayed at the net with 46 kill shots compared to 55 for the visitors. Rylee McAdams led the way with 12 slams followed by Emma Helms with 10, Anna Grace Dedmon with nine, and Hadley Webb with eight. The Lady Panthers also had more service aces than Greenwood, 14 to eight. Also at the net, the Lady Bulldogs had five blocks compared to just two for Siloam Springs. Emma Helms and Hadley Webb shared the lead in service receptions for the home team with 15 each. Alyssa Lovell was next with 11 while Abrey Jureka had nine. Greenwood did not report stats for digs and assists.
Russellville
Two days later, on September 11th, the GHS girls traveled to Pope County to face the Russellville Lady Cyclones in what turned out to be another very close match. Following the same pattern as against Siloam Springs, Greenwood lost the first two games by a total of six points, won the third game by nine, then lost the decisive fourth game by four points to drop the match, 1-3. The final tally was 25-27, 21-25, 25-16, and 21-25.
No stats were reported for Russellville, but Greenwood had 41 kill shots in the match evenly spread among several players. Hadley Webb had nine to lead the team while Emma Helms had eight, Anna Grace Dedmon and Lily Johnson seven each, and Rylee McAdams six. Anniston Kennedy also had three kills. Helms added four service aces while Dedmon and Raylee Wagoner had three each. Greenwood had seven total blocks, three by Dedmon.
On the back row, Emma Helms and Abrey Jureka led their teammates with 19 digs each, while Addi Webb had 11. Webb and Raylee Wagoner shared the team lead in assists with 13 each. Helms and Jureka led the team in service receptions with 27 and 23, respectively. Janie Witherington had nine returns and Hadley Webb had eight.
Bentonville-West
Last Monday, the 15th, the Lady Bulldogs hosted Bentonville-West, the second meeting between the two teams this season, the first being in the Missouri tournament. Unfortunately for Greenwood, their Class 6A opponents defeated them once again, sweeping the three-game match, 25-19, 25-19, and 25-17. The Lady Wolverines were much more aggressive and successful at the net with 43 kills shots to 24 for the Lady Bulldogs. The hometown girls were led by Rylee McAdams with six, while Anna Grace Dedmon and Anniston Kennedy had five slams each. Addi Webb had half of Greenwood’s four service aces and Anna Grace Dedmon had six total blocks attempts, half of them successful.
Along the back row, nine different GHS players had two or more digs each, led by Raylee Wagoner with eight, Hadley Webb and Abrey Jureka with six each, while Anna Grace Dedmon and Addi Webb had four saves each. Webb also led the team in ball handling with 11 assists while Raylee Wagoner had eight. Four Greenwood players reached double figures in service receptions, led by Helms with 18, Jureka with 12, while Hadley Webb and Janie Witherington had 10 each.
Alma
The following day, last Tuesday the 16th, the Lady Bulldogs finally had something to smile about after getting in the win column for the first time in league play against the Lady Airedales of Alma. After winning a close opening game, 25-23, the GHS ladies fairly dominated the last two games, winning 25-18 and 25-11. No stats were available for the visitors, but Greenwood had 34 kill shots in the match, led by Rylee McAdams with eight, followed by Emma Helms with seven, Anna Grace Dedmon with six, Lily Johnson with five, Janie Witherington and Anniston Kennedy with three each, and Raylee Wagoner with two slams.
Wagoner also had a nice night serving the ball, credited with six aces out of 31 total serves. Abrey Jureka also had two aces. At the net, Anna Grace Dedmon led the squad with six blocks defensively. On the back row, Jureka and Hadley Webb had double digit saves with 12 and 14 digs, respectively. Raylee Wagoner had nine and Janie Witherington had six. Wagoner also led the squad in assists with 14 while teammate Addi Webb had nine. Jureka led her sisters with 19 service receptions, while Witherington had nine.
Van Buren
Last Thursday the Lady Pointers came calling for Greenwood’s fourth conference game of the season, hoping to start a positive streak after their win over Alma two days earlier. But after taking the first game in fairly easy fashion, 25-16, they let the match slip away by dropping the last three games, 21-25, 20-25, and 11-25. No stats were available for the visitors, but the hometown girls had 39 kill shots at the net, led by Anna Grace Dedmon with 10, Rylee McAdams with eight, Lily Johnson and Emma Helms with six each, Hadley Webb with five, and Anniston Kennedy with four kills. Also on offense, Dedmon and Janie Witherington had three services aces each.
Defensively, Dedmon led the squad with four attempted blocks at the net while Emma Helms had two. On the back row, the Lady Bulldogs had 66 total digs, led by Abrey Jureka with 16, while teammates Janie Witherington and Raylee Wagoner had 11 saves each. Hadley Webb had seven and Anna Grace Dedmon had six digs. Raylee Wagoner led the team with 20 assists.
Fort Smith Southside
Last Saturday Greenwood hosted a four-team tournament at the volleyball gym and H.B. Stewart Arena with Fort Smith Southside, Paris, and Greenbrier all coming for a visit. Each team played two matches with the Lady Bulldogs drawing the Southside Lady Mavericks and the Lady Eagles of Paris, splitting the two non-conference matches.
The Lady Bulldogs lost the Southside match in three games, 20-25, 16-25, and 11-25. Offensively, Greenwood had 26 kill shots, led by Rylee McAdams and Abrey Jureka with six slams each, while Anna Grace Dedmon had five kills. At the net, Raylee Wagoner had two service aces while Emma Helms had three block attempts and Anna Grace Dedmon had two. No stats were reported for the Lady Mavs.
On the back row defensively, Dedmon and Abrey Jureka had nine digs each to lead the team, while Lorelai Graham had six saves. Raylee Wagoner had four digs while Janie Witherington and Lily Johnson had three each. Raylee Wagoner led her teammates with nine assists while Witherington set the pace with 21 service receptions, followed by Emma Helms with 12, Anna Grace Dedmon and Abrey Jureka with seven each, Lorelai Graham with six, and Lily Johnson with five.
Paris
After dropping Saturday’s first match to Southside, 0-3, the GHS girls rebounded in the second match to beat Paris, 3-1. The Lady Bulldogs won the first two games rather handily, 25-18 and 25-15, before dropping the third game, 19-25. But they quickly regrouped to take the decisive fourth game in easy fashion, 25-13. The Lady Eagles have not submitted any stats for this match, but Greenwood dominated offensively with 41 kill shots and 11 service aces.
Rylee McAdams set the pace for her teammates with 12 total kills, followed by Hadley Webb with seven and three others with five slams each, including Molly Lunney, Anniston Kennedy, and Emma Helms. Lily Johnson and Raylee Wagoner had three kills each. From the service line, Raylee Wagoner, Abrey Jureka, and Molly Lunney each had three aces. Also at the net, Rylee McAdams had seven block attempts, while Hadley Webb and Lily Johnson had three each.
On the back row, 11 different players had digs with 10 of them getting four or more saves in the match. Abrey Jureka had 23 to lead the way, followed by Janie Witherington with 17 and Raylee Wagoner with 16. Hadley Webb had seven digs while three others had six each, including Addi Webb, Emma Helms, and Lorelai Graham. Three others had four saves. They were Molly Lunney, Rylee McAdams, and Anniston Kennedy.
Addi Webb led Greenwood in ball handling with 26 assists while Raylee Wagoner had seven. Three Lady Bulldogs reached double figures in service receptions, led by Abrey Jureka with 22 and Lorelai Graham and Janie Witherington with 12 each. Lily Johnson had five service returns, Hadley Webb had four, Emma Helms had three, and Rylee McAdams had two.