GREENVILLE – Greenville fell short against Sidney on Tuesday, but the Lady Wave played the way Coach Chelsea Dowd wanted them to as they fought until the end in the Greater Western Ohio Conference volleyball match.
In the final set Greenville staved off a pair of Sidney match points before the Yellow Jackets finally took down the Wave 27-25. Sidney also won the first two sets 25-11 and 25-20 for the three-set sweep.
“I am so proud of them,” Dowd said. “Again, we started slow; that’s something we’ve got to work on. We’ve got to start faster because if we can play the way played in the third set the whole match, I think it will be a different outcome if we can start faster.”
Greenville’s best run of the night came in the third set. From a 10-10 tie, the Lady Wave scored nine of the next 10 points to build a 19-11 lead. Sidney started to fight back, but moments later Greenville had a 23-18 advantage and was on the cusp of winning a set for the first time this season.
However, Sidney wet on a 6-0 run to retake the lead and give the Yellow Jackets a match point opportunity. Greenville scored to even the score, but Sidney again pushed ahead and had another match point.
Once more the Lady Wave staved off elimination with multiple diving saves and a Cassie Cromwell kill, tying the score a 25-25.
“We keep telling them be aggressive, be aggressive, especially at that point in a game when it’s so close you can’t be timid,” Dowd said. “They weren’t hesitating; they’re picking up balls, literally laying it all out there. I keep telling them you’re young, you’re resilient, your wounds will heal. They seemed to take that to heart. A couple of skinned knees, but that’s the way you end the game. If you’re going to lose, do it like that.”
Despite the valiant effort from Greenville, Sidney scored the next two points to close out the set and the match, 27-25.
“I just feel for them because you work so hard, you’re so close and it just comes down to one or two points … and not for lack of effort,” Dowd said. “It’s a hard loss, but they played well.”
While Greenville played pretty well, Dowd said, the Wave still need to start better in the opening sets.
In the first set Greenville and Sidney were tied 8-8, but then the Yellow Jackets went on a 17-3 run to win 25-11.
Greenville had a 6-2 lead in the second set thanks to five consecutive points from server Logan Tabler, but once again Sidney rebounded and went on to win 25-20.
“We’ve got to cut back on the other team’s runs,” Dowd said. “We need to earn our points, but we also need to make the other team earn theirs. If we can cut back on our own silly errors – communication errors, missed hits on the balls – that will cut back on those runs and we’ll get points, we’ll keep the momentum on our side.”
For the match Cromwell led Greenville with seven kills while Tabler and Koryann Elliott both had four. Cromwell also led the Wave with two blocks.
Tabler led Greenville with nine assists, and Brooke Stachler added six. Shelby Herrmann had a team-high eight digs, and Chloe Cox had seven. Herrmann and Stachler both had one ace.
Greenville fell to 0-5 overall and 0-5 in the GWOC with the loss while Sidney improved to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the GWOC.
Greenville will return to action at Stebbins on Thursday and will play host to Trotwood-Madison on Tuesday.
Dowd is confident that the Lady Wave soon will get their first victory.
“We will get there,” she said. “It’s going to happen.”
