The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs are the new Class 5A state volleyball champions after last Saturday’s three-set sweep of the 2019 champs, ending the two-year reign of the Jonesboro Lady Hurricane as state title holders. Ironically, Greenwood lost in the semi-finals (3-2) at Jonesboro in 2019. This year the tables were turned in the 2020 finals.
It’s the third state championship for Head Coach Jennifer Golden in her 20th season at Greenwood. She has taken her team to numerous state finals over the years, but this season had all the earmarks of something special, including a wealth of talented seniors and hosting the state tournament on the GHS campus.
Among those skilled and experienced seniors was Caylee Ciesla, Madison Pugh, Larkin Luke, Jocelyn Sewell, Zoie Dean, Hannah Watkins, Anna Johnson, Allison Rose, and Sami Stilley. To a girl, each of these players had their moments during this strangest of seasons played under the shadow of the Covid-19 virus. But strong senior leadership, excellent size, solid depth, and Greenwood’s strong winning tradition have been critical to their success.
After losing their season-opener in four sets at Class 6A Fayetteville, the Lady Bulldogs went on a tear, winning 21 consecutive matches – 14-0 in conference play – including the playoffs and their state final victory over Jonesboro. Fayetteville went on to win the 6A state title over Fort Smith Southside, while several other area teams also competed for championships at Hot Springs’ Bank of Ozark Arena. Hackett defeated Paris in the Class 3A title match, while the Mansfield girls took down Lavaca in Class 2A.
But Saturday’s 3-0 GHS sweep was anything but conventional, at least in sets two and three. After taking the opening set with relative ease, 25-18, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves behind the proverbial eight ball, trailing by eight points in each of the next two sets before mounting impressive rallies. Greenwood fell behind 14-6 in the second set and 11-3 in the third. But both times, Greenwood roared back to take the lead and never relinquished it.
The happy result was a three-set sweep with Greenwood winning 25-18, 25-20, and 25-21, adding a third state title to the resume of Coach Golden and her Lady Bulldogs. Their previous titles came in 2011 and 2017. Jonesboro, playing in its fourth consecutive finals match, defeated Greenwood in the 2018 finals and the 2019 semi-finals.
As for her team’s remarkable comeback against a very good Jonesboro squad, Coach Golden said, “We’ve been in that position several times this year. It was just second nature for us to climb back out and come back and win. That’s a testament to these kids. They like the adversity, I guess. They’ll fight back at anything, and they did.
“We had a game plan and I thought we did really well executing it,” added the coach. “We did our thing, digging a hole and making ourselves climb back out – that’s what we do – so [it] wasn’t anything I [was] uncomfortable with.”
In the opening set, the Greenwood girls came out strong, scoring seven of the first eight points in the match. Later, the Lady Bulldogs went up by eight points (twice), 12-4 and again 16-8 on a service ace by Johnson. The Lady Hurricane never got as close as five points for the remainder of the first set.
But in the second set, the Jonesboro ladies grabbed an early big advantage, building a 14-6 lead before Coach Golden wisely called a time out to refocus her team. The Lady Bulldogs responded with an 8-2 run to close within two points at 16-14. Down 18-15 moments later, Greenwood reeled off five unanswered points, highlighted by a kill from freshman prodigy Myia McCoy to take the lead. Over the next few minutes, McCoy added two more kills, and Allison Rose ended the set with a slam to put Greenwood up two sets to none.
After rallying with a 19-6 scoring run to close out the second set, Greenwood fell behind again in the decisive third set. Trailing 11-3, the Lady Bulldogs manufactured an 16-6 scoring blitz to build a 19-17 lead. They then got key plays from seniors Larkin Luke (at the net) and Allison Rose (service ace) to push their advantage to five points, 23-18.
Sensing imminent defeat, the Jonesboro girls fought back, scoring the next three points to cut their deficit to two points at 23-21. But on the next play, Greenwood senior setter Anna Johnson found herself near the net as a Lady Hurricane player was about to deliver a kill shot. Johnson reacted instinctively by coming forward and leaping high to block the shot, and the Jonesboro defense could not return it.
“I saw the ball going over, and I just jumped as high as I could and tried to get over the net,” said Johnson in a post-match session with the media. “Then I felt the ball hit my hands and it went down, and I just started yelling like crazy, because I just wasn’t ready for it.”
The match ended moments later when another Jonesboro kill shot sailed out-of-bounds, signaling the Greenwood bench to empty and join the celebration on court. Johnson, who is a three-year starter at setter, was named Most Valuable Player. She finished the match with 26 assists and 10 digs. She was one of four Lady Bulldogs who reached double figures in one of those categories.
“It was insane,” Johnson said after receiving the award. “I was not expecting it, because I just try to do what’s best for the team. We’ve been working hard for three years, and we’ve been so close in playing Jonesboro all three years. It was nice to finally beat them.”
Earlier this season, Coach Golden talked about her senior setter in glowing terms, saying, “As a sophomore, she didn’t have the experience she does now. [But] she has improved so much on the speed of her game. Over the last three years we’ve tried to speed up our offense, and you can’t do that without a setter who can’t put the ball where you need it to be. She’s come in every day and taken in everything we’ve given her, and just really done a good job of improving everything as far as what we need on offense and where we want it to be.”
In her post-match comments last Saturday, senior Larkin Luke said, “I think the key was just energy, because when we didn’t have energy, we started to lose a lot. Then we got energy and caught up and started winning.”
“We knew if we didn’t come in with a good start, we would really struggle,” offered senior hitter Caylee Ciesla. “So we just tried to jump on them [early], and I tried my best to contribute to that. I felt like everyone did a really good job.” Caylee is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Ciesla. Her dad is the Superintendent of Schools at Greenwood.
Ciesla finished with 10 kills while senior Hannah Watkins — a University of Central Arkansas commit — had eight kills and two blocks. Senior libero Madison Pugh had 11 digs in the title match, while fellow seniors Johnson, Sewell, and Stilley had 10 digs apiece as well.
In wrapping up her team’s season, Coach Golden said, “I’m so proud of the effort that every girl on the team showed throughout the year. With the circumstances of having to deal with a pandemic during our season, everyone was asked to do some hard things and sacrifice a lot that would come with a normal year.
“These girls stepped up and bought in, and it has paid off in a big way,” she continued. “My seniors were the best leaders – they were examples for every underclassman to look up to. They led in every aspect, on and off the court. There were the core of the team, but they have left a very strong foundation of their teammates to [build on]. I’m going to miss each of them, but I can’t wait to watch the next group step into the spotlights.”