After opening their season against a monster schedule, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs are up to their old tricks again. The GHS girls started 4-6 in non-conference action, playing exclusively against much larger schools, including several from out-of-state in tournament play. However, since then the team has gone 6-0 against 5A West conference competition.

The Lady Bulldogs were unbeaten (14-0) in league play during their state championship run in 2020, lost just one conference game in 2019, and were unbeaten in 2018 as well. Next Tuesday Greenwood will travel to Greenbrier.

Counting the Lady Bulldogs’ five-set overtime victory at Fort Smith Southside on August 31st, the GHS girls have now won seven matches in a row. But they also won their last two abbreviated matches in tournament play at Bentonville on August 28th, stretching their winning streak to nine. They are currently 10-6 overall.

During the streak the GHS girls have defeated Russellville, Van Buren, Vilonia, Siloam Springs, Mountain Home, an Alma in succession in 5A West conference play, giving the Lady Bulldogs the early advantage in league play. Eight conference dates remain including matches against Russellville, Van Buren, Vilonia, Siloam Springs, Mountain Home, Alma, and two against Greenbrier. They also have weekend tournaments scheduled at Conway and Ozark, Missouri.

Russellville

Greenwood’s first match after Labor Day was on the road at Russellville in Pope County, a long and tough five-set victory. The two teams split the first four sets, with the Lady Cyclones winning sets one (25-22) and four (25-19), while the Lady Bulldogs won sets two (30-28) and three (25-15). The decisive fifth set then went to the visitors, 15-13, for the match win.

Offensively, the Lady Bulldogs executed 51 kill shots in the match, led by senior Courtney Swilling (15), sophomore Myia McCoy (12), and junior Landis Luke (11). Senior Kylie Lawson added seven slams. The team also had 10 service aces, five of those by sophomore Tori Howard. Junior Lane Presley and senior Madie Bateman had three blocks each.

The back row was busy during the match with Greenwood racking up 113 digs, with six players with double figures saves, including Howard (28), McCoy (23), juniors Riley Golden (15) and Ashlyn Butler (13), Lawson (11), and junior Rylie Holland (11). Butler also led the team in assists with 17 while Holland had 16. Howard (31) and Golden (23) led in service receptions.

Van Buren

Two days later on September 9th Greenwood hosted the Lady Pointers of Van Buren and won yet another five-set match, taking the first two sets (25-14, 25-20), losing the next two (25-18, 25-23), before winning the tie-breaking fifth set, 15-9.

Once again, the Lady Bulldogs were very active and successful on the front row with 47 kill shots, led by Myia McCoy with a whopping 23 spikes, followed by Landis Luke with 10. Ashlyn Butler and Riley Golden had two services aces each, while Madie Bateman and Landis Luke had four blocks apiece.

Greenwood had 50 total digs in the contest, led by Tori Howard’s 15. Myia McCoy (7), junior Lillyanna Gigerich (6), Ashlyn Butler (5), and Rylie Holland (5) also had saves. Holland led her teammates with 19 assists while Ashlyn Butler had 18. Howard had 27 service receptions to lead the squad, while Myia McCoy had 22 and Lillyanna Gigerich added 10.

Vilonia

The following Tuesday, September 14th, Greenwood traveled to the Central Arkansas town of Vilonia and came away with a 3-0 straight set victory over the Lady Eagles. The visitors won 25-16, 25-20, and 25-18 to improve to 3-0 in league play.

The Lady Bulldogs combined for 30 slams with four girls with at least five kills each, led by Myia McCoy with eight, Courtney Swilling with seven, Landis Luke with six, and Kylie Lawson with five. Riley Golden had three of Greenwood’s seven service aces. Luke and McCoy tied for the team lead in blocks at the net.

Greenwood’s backcourt players combined for 58 digs, led by Tori Howard with 14. Rylie Holland added nine saves, Kylie Lawson and Myia McCoy with eight each, and Lillyanna Gigerich and Riley Golden with six digs each. Ashlyn Butler (15) and Rylie Holland (10) led the team in assists while Howard (18) and McCoy (10) led in service receptions.

Siloam Springs

On September 16th the GHS girls hosted the Lady Panthers and easily defeated them in straight sets, allowing just 33 total points in the match. Greenwood won 25-10, 25-12, and 25-11. Head Coach Jennifer Golden’s girls had 40 spikes in the match with nine players having at least one kill, led by Courtney Swilling with 10 and Myia McCoy and Landis Luke with eight each.

The home team also faired well at the service line with 13 aces, paced by Riley Golden with three. Four others – Rylie Holland, Ashlyn Butler, Lillyanna Gigerich, and Tori Howard – had two each. Myia McCoy had a pair of blocks while five other players had one block each.

The Lady Bulldogs had 40 digs or saves away from the net with 12 players getting in on the action, led by McCoy with seven and three others with six digs each, including Howard, Gigerich, and sophomore Carsyn Holland. Ashlyn Butler led the squad with 13 assists followed by Rylie Holland with 11. The visitors also had eight service aces, three each by Ashlyn Butler and Lane Presley.

Mountain Home

This past Tuesday the GHS girls made the long trek to North Central Arkansas to face the Lady Bombers of Mountain Home, resulting in a highly competitive five-set match won by the visitors. Greenwood’s girls won the opening set, 25-22, then dropped the second set, 25-16. They took the third set (25-20) before losing the fourth (25-21), then winning the critical fifth set, 15-12.

The Lady Bulldogs were tough at the net with 46 kill shots led by Myia McCoy with 14 and Kylie Lawson 13. Courtney Swilling had eight slams and Landis Luke had seven. The defense was also on display with 19 total blocks at the net, paced by Landis Luke with 10 and Madie Bateman with eight. Presley had five and Swilling added four.

The team also combined for an impressive 73 digs with four girls having double digits saves. McCoy had 18, Howard 14, Gigerich 11, and Rylie Holland 10. Holland also led her teammates in assists with 15 of the squad’s total of 19. Tori Howard led Greenwood in service receptions with 42 with only three errors. Myia McCoy had 21 receptions, Lillyanna Gigerich 14, and Kylie Lawson 12.

Alma

This past Thursday Greenwood welcomed longtime rival Alma to campus and promptly swept the Airedalettes in straight sets, winning convincingly 25-7, 25-12, and 25-13. The Lady Bulldogs had five girls with at least four kills, led by Myia McCoy with 12, followed by Courtney Swilling with eight, along with Kylie Lawson (6), Lane Presley (4), and Landis Luke (4).

The home team had six total service aces, led by Tori Howard with three. Swilling and Luke had two blocks each, and the team combined for 54 total digs, led by Howard with 21 and Rylie Holland with 11. Holland and Ashlyn Butler also tied for the team lead in assists with 13 each. Howard had a dozen service receptions with no errors to lead the host team.

Schedule

Next Tuesday the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Greenbrier to face the Lady Panthers for the first time this season, wrapping up the first half of the league schedule. They will commence the second half of the conference slate next Thursday at home against Russellville. Greenwood will play Van Buren and Vilonia the following week before going to Conway October 9th for a one-day tournament. Siloam Springs and Mountain Home are the opponents the week of October 10th before the Lady Bulldogs travel to Ozark, Missouri, on Saturday, October 16th.

Greenwood concludes its regular season the week of October 17th with a road date at Alma and a home date with Greenbrier before taking part in the 5A state tournament at Marion in Northeast Arkansas the following week. As always, should they make it that far, the state finals will be played in Hot Springs.