By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Lady Wave volleyball team sweep Troy at home to complete the season sweep of the Lady Trojans on Sep. 21.

Assistant coach Jim Hardesty said once the team got rolling and shrugged off a slow start, the team played consistently well.

“It was a hard earned win. I thought we played really consistent all night. We got in a few people in there that don’t normally get some playing time there at end. It was a good effort all the way around,” Hardesty said.

The first set saw the Lady Trojans take an early 9-4 lead. Hardesty said the team was coming off two tough games where they fought pretty hard. Greenville was playing off to start.

But Greenville eventually started to play up to their standards and took a 12-11 lead. Troy fought back and grabbed back the lead. However, the Lady Wave continued to play well and got a 20-19 lead.

Troy called a timeout soon after to try and stop Greenville’s momentum, but it would not be successful. The Lady Wave started to take hold of the game from the serving line and won the first set, 25-19.

The momentum then carried Greenville to an 8-1 lead to start the second set. The serving and the hitting overwhelmed Troy.

Hardesty said once they got going, he felt they were in control the rest of the way. Greenville had the lead the entire second set.

Players like sophomore Kindyl Peltz, junior Shyanne Gibboney and senior Skylar Bryson all had success from the serving line. Peltz was the leading server for the Lady Wave last season and she should off her serving talent.

“She’s just a great server. She was our leading server last year and she’s right on pace again,” Hardesty said. “But, we had an excellent job from Skylar and Shyanne. Both did a great job serving where we needed to tonight.”

Greenville took the second set, 25-14.

The third set started off close before Greenville started to pull away to a six-point lead. The Lady Trojans didn’t let it get too out of hand this time around and hung around cutting into the Lady Wave’s lead.

Whenever Greenville tried to take a bigger lead, Troy would respond and get a kill or an ace to stay close. But, the Lady Trojans couldn’t stop the power hitters from Greenville.

Hardesty said the team took control of the game through the middle as the offense found their success attacking from the middle of the net.

Unofficially, junior Brooke Schmidt had 10 kills as she was a force in front of the net. Junior Olivia Flatter also notched in a few kills.

Greenville took the third set, 25-20, and got back into the win column. Greenville is now 10-6 with an 8-4 conference record.

Hardesty said it is a big deal for the program to get to double digit wins with quite a bit of season left. This Lady Wave team is showing how dangerous they can be.

“Not a program that really has been strong, strong at the top. Right now, we’re turning a corner and we’re going to be something to compete with from here on out,” Hardesty said.

Beating Troy for a second time is also a big accomplishment for the Lady Wave. Before this season, Greenville’s last win over Troy was in 2006.

Head coach Michelle Hardesty said she talked to the girls before the season about how often they have beaten Troy twice in a season. They were amped up prior to the game to get past that barrier. Now, they are just as excited for the next opportunity to win.

“They were getting pretty hyped up. They wanted this one bad,” Hardesty said. “Now we’re going to get the next one because they want that one just as bad too.”

Some milestones were also mentioned during the game. Peltz surpassed 1,000 career assists when the Lady Wave played at Sidney on Sep. 14. Schmidt surpassed 200 kills this season.

Greenville will travel to Xenia on Sep. 26 for their next game.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]