Missing the state tournament entirely last season, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs have returned to their usual place of prominence after reaching the semi-finals in the state playoffs this past week. The GHS ladies had one of the toughest tournament draws in the bottom half of the bracket as the #2 seed from the 5A West. Their first-round opponent was #3 seeded Little Rock Christian (LRC) from the 5A Central. But potentially waiting in the wings were three consecutive #1 seeds in Benton, Marion, and Farmington.
As it turned out, the Lady Bulldogs defeated both LRC and Benton before facing Mount St. Mary Academy in the semi-finals, after the Belles knocked off Marion in a minor upset. But Benton and Marion weren’t the only #1 seeds that fell this week. Top-seeded Greenbrier was beaten by Valley View, which then defeated #1 seed Farmington, who hosted the tournament. The state finals will pit Valley View (#2 East) against Mount St. Mary Academy (#2 Central) next week in Hot Springs.
The GHS girls finished with a very respectable 19-12 overall record, but many of their losses came in tournament play under different rules than normal regular season or conference matches. Most of those losses were also to out-of-state schools or to higher classification teams like Fayetteville, Springdale Har-Ber, or Conway. Greenwood finished 9-3 in conference play, good enough for second place behind Farmington. They were 9-2 at home, 8-3 on the road, and 2-7 at neutral sites.
Our last article covered Greenwood’s participation in a weekend tournament in Ozark, Missouri, on October 9-10. They then resumed conference play against Farmington, Russellville, and Siloam Springs to close out the regular season before beginning state tournament play this past Monday at Farmington. Head Coach Jennifer Golden and her team played Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, followed by a loyal group of GHS students and fans.
Farmington
On Tuesday, October 13th, the Lady Bulldogs traveled northward to Farmington to take on the Lady Cardinals, ranked among the top teams in the state across all classifications for most of this season. Earlier this fall Farmington won at Greenwood, so the Lady Bulldogs were highly motivated for some payback, and they got it. The visitors won the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-14, before dropping sets two and three, 10-25 and 14-25. With the match tied at 2-2, Greenwood then rallied to take the fifth set, 15-11, for the match.
Action at the net was hot and heavy with over 115 kill shots between the two teams, 59 for Greenwood and 55 for Farmington. The Lady Bulldogs had two players who accounted for the majority of those 59 slams. Riley Kaminshine led the way with 21 kills while teammate Rylee McAdams had 18. Emma Helms had eight slams, Anniston Kennedy four, and Addi Chaplin had three. Four others contributed at least one slam. Defensively at the net, the Lady Cards had the advantage with eight total blocks to just three for the Lady Bulldogs.
Both teams had six service aces with Jordyn Pippin accounting for two of Greenwood’s six. Addison Hadaway, Adeline Garner, Addi Webb, and Abrey Jurecka each had one ace. On the back row, Addison Hadaway had 26 digs to lead the team, followed by Jordyn Pippin with 18, Addi Webb with 17, Abrey Jurecka with 14, and Riley Kaminshine with six. The team had 96 saves altogether. Webb had 32 assists while Adeline Garner had 10. Addison Hadaway led her teammates with 25 service returns, followed by Jordyn Pippin with 19 and Abrey Jurecka with 18.
Russellville
Two days after their win at Farmington, the Lady Bulldogs hosted the Lady Cyclones of Russellville, winning in straight sets, 25-14, 25-20, and 25-19. Both teams were successful at the net with Greenwood getting 38 kills and Russellville 34. Riley Kaminshine had 11 slams for Greenwood with Rylee McAdams and Emma Helms getting nine each. The Lady Bulldogs were also effective defensively at the net with eight total blocks with Addi Chaplin, Ryleigh Smith, and Rylee McAdams accounting for most of those.
Greenwood also had seven service aces with Jordyn Pippin getting three of them and Rylee McAdams two. The team also combined for 65 digs, led by Addison Hadaway with 24. Jordyn Pippin and Abrey Jurecka had eight saves each while Adeline Garner and Addi Webb had seven digs each. Webb also led the team with 24 assists while Adeline Garner had nine. Lastly, Addison Hadaway had 19 service returns to lead the squad, followed by Abrey Jurecka with nine and Jordyn Pippin eight.
Siloam Springs
A week passed before Greenwood closed out its conference and regular season with a trip to Siloam Springs on October 22nd. With the league race essentially over and the #2 seed already secured, the GHS ladies were ambushed by the Lady Panthers, losing in four sets, 3-1. The home team won the first two sets, 25-20 and 25-22, before Greenwood extended the match by winning the third set, 25-12. But the Lady Panthers closed out the match with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set.
No stats were available for Siloam Springs, but Greenwood had 39 kill shots at the net, led by five players. Emma Helms and Rylee McAdams had nine slams each, Riley Kaminshine had seven kills, while Adeline Chaplin and Anniston Kennedy had six kills each. Greenwood also had seven total blocks led by Riley Kaminshine and Rylee McAdams. The team also had nine service aces with Addison Hadaway getting six of those.
Defensively, Hadaway also had 26 digs to lead the team. Jordyn Pippin and Abrey Jurecka had 16 saves each. Addi Webb had eight digs and Emma Helms five. Addi Webb also led the squad in assists with 18, followed by Adeline Garner with seven and Addison Hadaway with four. Hadaway also had 18 service returns while Abrey Jurecka had 16, Jordyn Pippin 13, and Anniston Kennedy nine.
Little Rock Christian
Greenwood opened 5A state tournament play last Monday at 6 p.m. against the Lady Warriors of Little Rock Christian. The two teams met very early in the season in tournament play with LRC coming out on top, 2-1. But the second time around was all Greenwood, winning in straight sets, 25-23, 25-21, and 25-12. The Lady Bulldogs held a significant advantage at the net with 40 kills to 28 for the Lady Warriors. Both teams had two total blocks at the net.
But Greenwood doubled LRC in service aces, six to three. Jordyn Pippin had five of those six. Addison Hadaway had 21 digs or saves on the back line, keeping the ball alive. Abrey Jurecka had 14 and Jordyn Pippin had 13. Rileigh Smith had six saves. Addi Webb had 17 assists while Adeline Garner had 16. A trio of Lady Bulldogs had 16 service receptions each. They were Hadaway, Pippin, and Jurecka. The win advanced Greenwood to the state quarterfinals.
Benton
In a highly competitive match between two of the state’s top teams, Greenwood bested the Benton girls in four sets. The Lady Bulldogs won the first set, 25-19, before dropping the second set, 19-25. But the GHS ladies bounced back to take sets three and four, winning 25-22 and 25-23, to move on to the state semi-finals.
The two teams combined for a whooping 120 kills, led by Benton with 63. Greenwood’s 57 slams came from three players primarily. Riley Kaminshine and Rylee McAdams had 17 kills each while Emma Helms had 12. Anniston Kennedy added seven slams. Greenwood also had nine total blocks, led by Rylee McAdams with six, three solo blocks and three assisted blocks. Abrey Jurecka had Greenwood’s only service ace.
Addison Hadaway paced her teammates in digs with 34, more than twice Jordyn Pippin’s 13 and three times more than Adeline Garner with 11 and Abrey Jurecka with 10. Addi Chaplin had seven saves. In ball handling, Addi Webb had 23 assists while Adeline Garner had 11. Four GHS players accounted for most of Greenwood’s 74 service receptions. They were Addison Hadaway with 24, Jordyn Pippin with 18, Abrey Jurecka with 15, and Emma Helms with 12.
Mount St. Mary Academy
Tuesday’s win over Benton propelled the Lady Bulldogs into the state semi-finals on Wednesday afternoon. But the outcome wasn’t what GHS fans were hoping for – a 3-0 straight set win for the Belles of Mount St. Mary Academy from Little Rock, 25-22, 25-18, and 25-13. The loss ended the season for the Lady Bulldogs, but a very successful season it was, bouncing back from a couple years of mediocrity. The last time Greenwood reached the state semi-finals was 2023 when they lost in the finals.
Despite the loss, Coach Golden and her staff and players were blown away by the support they received from the school district, the student body, and the community. She issued the following statement on Facebook to express her gratitude for everyone involved. “I want to thank our community, school, administration, fellow coaches, students, and fans. As soon as our second-round game was over, Coach Young called me and said, ‘We are bringing five bus loads of students to your semifinal game to cheer on the team.’
“We put information out to see if we could help get the entry for those students paid and within 12 hours we had more than enough to cover every single student. The support that was given to my team during the semifinal game was unmatched. No other community rallies behind their kids like Greenwood, Arkansas, and I am thankful to be a part of this amazing school district. We didn’t get the win but y’all made my team feel like they were #1. You gave them a memory they will never forget.”
No stats were available for the Belles, but Greenwood had just seven kill shots at the net in three sets of play. They also had six total blocks, led by Rileigh Smith with three. Addi Webb had the only service ace for Greenwood. On the back line, Addison Hadaway had 14 saves while Abrey Jurecka had nine and Addi Webb and Jordyn Pippin had eight saves each. Emma Helms and Adeline Garner had five digs each while Addi Chaplin had four.
Addi Webb led the squad in ball handling with 15 assists while teammate Adeline Garner had 10. In service receptions, Addison Hadaway led the way with 23, followed close behind by Abrey Jurecka with 21, and Jordyn Pippin with 12. Emma Helms added six service receptions.
Looking back and ahead
Coach Golden and her staff have every right to be proud of what this 2026 team accomplished after coming off two years without a state tournament victory. Three seniors played pivotal roles this season – Addi Chaplin, Abrey Jurecka, and Anniston Kennedy. Likewise, three juniors were instrumental as well – Emma Helms, Rylee McAdams, and Addi Webb. But the sophomore supporting cast was especially helpful, including Riley Kaminshine, Ryleigh Smith, Addison Hadaway, Adeline Garner, and Jordyn Pippin. Of those 11 players mentioned, eight will return next season as juniors and seniors, so the immediate future looks bright. Add to that a talented ninth-grade squad that finished 20-5 and won their third consecutive conference title, going undefeated in league play, 10-0. The next few years are filled with high-end potential for the Lady Bulldogs. It should be fun. Thanks for a great season, ladies!