It hasn’t happened often in the past quarter century under Head Coach Jennifer Golden, but the Greenwood High School girls volleyball team has failed to qualify for the state tournament this fall. That event happened this past week in far distant Marion near the Arkansas-Tennessee border, and the four 5A West teams who did make the cut made an impact, filling three of the four slots in the semifinals.
Farmington (#1), Siloam Springs (#2), Van Buren (#3), and Shiloh Christian (#4) all reached the quarterfinals and all but Siloam Springs advanced to the semis last Thursday. Van Buren then lost to Marion while Farmington topped Shiloh to reach the finals, won by the host team, Marion. Among other reasons, the obvious strength of the 5A West helps explain why the Lady Bulldogs came up short in league play this season.
Counting their pre-season benefit match against Rogers High School, the GHS ladies finished the 2025 campaign with an overall record of 17-17, but just 5-9 in conference play for fifth place. Three of their last four matches were against teams ahead of them in the standings and GHS wins in those matches might have changed the playoff picture in the 5A West, but the Lady Bulldogs lost all three of those matches, two of them at home.
Summing up her team’s 2025 season, Coach Golden offered the following comments. “We had an injury prone season unlike any other I have experienced since coaching. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards for us to make the state tournament this year – the first time in 20 years. Through all the ups and downs this season, I can say that my team continued to put in work with a great attitude and showed their love and passion for the game every time they stepped onto the court, right up until the very end. I could not be more proud of them.
“We may have just finished, but we have already set our sights towards next year. We were a young team this year, but with the experience they gained, I'm excited to see what they can do with the upcoming sophomores, who had an amazing year,” added the longtime GHS head coach.
Van Buren
On Tuesday, October 14th, the Lady Bulldogs made the short jaunt to Crawford County and Van Buren High School desperately needing a win to improve their position in the league standings. But after four sets the home team earned a convincing 3-1 victory over Greenwood with just two of those sets really competitive. Van Buren won 25-18, 25-9, 21-25, and 25-15.
In game one the GHS girls had two players reach double figures in kill shots. Emma Helms and Rylee McAdams both had 10 slams each, with Rebekah Voris close behind with seven kills. Lily Johnson had five slams while Molly Lunney, Raylee Wagoner, and Anniston Kennedy accounted for the remaining kills (9). Greenwood did not register any service aces while the Lady Pointers had nine. Greenwood did have eight defensive blocks at the net.
Other defensive stats include 85 digs on the GHS back line compared to 101 for Van Buren. Janie Witherington led Greenwood with 31 saves while Rylee McAdams had 11. Alyssa Lovell had nine digs, Abrey Jureka seven, and Raylee Wagoner five. Wagoner led the team in ball handling with 16 assists while Janie Witherington led Greenwood with 24 service receptions. Rebekah Voris had 15 returns, Alyssa Lovell 14, Abrey Jureka 11, Lily Johnson seven, and Emma Helms six.
Shiloh Christian
Two days later on Thursday the 16th the Lady Bulldogs hosted the Shiloh Christian Lady Saints, the team just ahead of them in the final league standings. But the visitors fought hard in a four-game match, winning three games to one, 25-22, 30-32, 25-22, and 25-2. The Lady Saints went on to earn the #4 playoff slot from the 5A West and reached the state semifinals.
Against Greenwood, the Shiloh girls had 68 kills compared to 51 for the GHS ladies. Rylee McAdams and Emma Helms led the way for the home team with 14 slams each. Anniston Kennedy had seven kills while Lily Johnson had five, Emma Helms four, and Raylee Wagoner three. The Lady Bulldogs also had nine service aces, including four by Rylee McAdams and two each by Raylee Wagoner and Abrey Jureka. McAdams and Emma Helms had two blocks as well.
Also defensively, the Lady Bulldogs had 106 total digs led by Janie Witherington with 17, followed by Raylee Wagoner and Abrey Jureka with 13 saves each. Addi Webb had 12 digs, Alyssa Lovell 11, Lily Johnson nine, and Rylee McAdams eight. Emma Helms led Greenwood with 25 service receptions, followed close behind by Janie Witherington with 21, Alyssa Lovell with 18, Abrey Jureka 15, and Rebekah Voris eight.
Farmington
Effectively out of the conference race, the Lady Bulldogs began last week with a trip to Farmington on Tuesday. The Lady Cardinals finished the regular season with a perfect 14-0 conference record and ultimately reached the 5A state championship game. Included among their 25+ wins was last week’s 3-0 victory over Greenwood, 25-16, 25-20, and 25-19. Despite losing the match in straight sets, the Lady Bulldogs fought hard and were competitive in every game.
Greenwood had 36 kill shots in the match, led by Rylee McAdams with 10. Hadley Webb and Lily Johnson had six slams each while Anna Grace Dedmon had five. Anniston Kennedy and Emma Helms had four kills each. Raylee Wagoner had Greenwood’s only service ace and Rylee McAdams had the team’s only defensive block at the net.
Alyssa Lovell led the GHS ladies with 16 digs while Janie Witherington had 15. Addi Webb contributed nine saves while Lorelai Graham had seven. Webb also led the team in ball handling with 16 assists while Raylee Wagoner had 15. Janie Witherington led the squad with 17 service receptions, followed by Emma Helms with 13, Alyssa Lovell with 12, and Lorelai Graham with 11.
Harrison
Last Thursday the Greenwood ladies ended their season on the road at Harrison with a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Goblins, 25-18, 25-20, and 25-11. Emma Helms was the offensive leader with 10 kill shots. Hadley Webb had nine slams and Rylee McAdams had six while Anniston Kennedy and Raylee Wagoner had four kills each. Alyssa Lovell added two service aces.
As a team, the Lady Bulldogs had five total defensive blocks, two each by Anna Grace Dedmon and Lily Johnson. Janie Witherington had 21 digs to lead Greenwood, the only GHS player in double digits. Alyssa Lovell had nine digs, Hadley Webb eight, Lorelai Graham seven, Anna Grace Dedmon five, while four others had three digs each. Raylee Wagoner had 10 assists to lead her teammates while Janie Witherington led the team with 19 service receptions. Hadley Webb had seven, while Lorelai Graham, Alyssa Lovell, and Emma Helms with six service returns each.
The Lady Bulldogs will lose six seniors to graduation next spring including Anna Grace Dedmon, Lorelai Graham, Alyssa Lovell, Janie Witherington, Lily Johnson, and Raylee Wagoner. Taking their place will be this year’s junior class. They are Addi Chaplin, Molly Lunney, Hadley Webb, Abrey Jureka, and Anniston Kennedy. Next year’s junior class will be this season’s sophomores, several of which made significant contributions this fall. They are Rebekah Voris, Alyssa Lowe, Rylee McAdams, Emma Helms, Addie Webb, and Bella Meyers. Coach Golden will also get an influx of talented sophomores next season after the 2025 freshmen girls won their conference championship this fall for the second consecutive season. The ninth-grade girls are led by Head Coach Tim Golden.