GREENVILLE – Greenville closed out the 2019 regular season at home honoring four Lady Wave seniors prior to the Thursday night 3-0 varsity sweep of the visiting Sidney Lady Yellow Jackets including a 2-0 win by the Lady Wave JV squad in the early match.
“Totally surprised,” said Greenville head varsity coach Michelle Hardesty. “Last year Sidney took us to five both times we played them and we didn’t win. This year they took us to four the first time and here going into the last game of the season we beat them in three.”
Emma Klosterman, Josi Worden, Sarah Abell and Annie Hayes made their final home appearance wearing the Green and White for the Lady Wave volleyball program.
“Just super excited for the girls,” Hardesty stated. “Being senior night, winning senior night, beating Sidney who is in first place in the other side of our league bracket, beating them twice (2019), taking third place in the MVL.”
The Lady Yellow Jackets came into the match standing atop the MVL Valley Division with a 10-7 mark while the Lady Wave entered the night with a better 12-5 mark in the powerful MVL Miami Division good for third place.
“When you put all the MVL teams together we finish in third place behind Troy and Tipp,” Hardesty noted. “Super proud of where we started, where we come from this year and where we got to this year.”
The Lady Wave started slow trailing early in the opening set before battling back to lead 21-12 on their way to a 25-20 win.
Greenville made it look easy in set No. 2 with a lopsided 25-13 win taking a 2-0 advantage over the MVL Valley Division leaders.
The Lady Wave wasted little time putting the visitors away in the third set with an 11-2 early lead on their way to 25-16 win, but not before Coach Hardesty removed her four seniors to an appreciative Greenville crowd.
The four Greenville seniors each had a big night with Klosterman leading the Lady Wave with 14-kills. Worden 17-digs, 1 ace and flawless serve receiving. Abell also had flawless serve receiving, 5-digs, and 1-ace. Annie had a personal best match with 10-kills on 13-attempts.
The MVL Miami Division closes out the season with a combined 60-25 (.705) record while the MVL Valley Division finishes with a 26-61 (.298) record.
The top three spots in the combined Miami and Valley Divisions go to Miami with Tippecanoe and Troy each finishing with a 16-1 record and Greenville with a 13-5 mark. Sidney lands in fourth place overall with an 11-7 record to take first place in the weak Valley Division.
Coaches Michelle and Jim Hardesty took time to talk about each of their senior athletes.
“Sarah (Abell) has been a consistent leader since we’ve been here,” said Michelle. “She has always been very supportive in what we have done, very patient with us in what we were accomplishing and anytime we put her out on the floor she did what we asked of her. Off the court she took ownership of this team and led us.”
“Josi (Worden) goes out and plays hard and aggressive,” Michelle said. “Sometimes she makes it look really easy. She sacrificed her hitting – she was an outside hitter for us last year and we just kept seeing how well she was passing the ball. We just looked at her and said we have to have you in that back row constantly.”
“Josi was willing to change and that made a big difference for us this year,” Jim said of the team’s libero. “We were looking for a passer and she stepped right in there and did the job. You can’t say that about an outside hitter because they like to hit the ball.”
“It starts with a pass so your hitters aren’t going to get a good kill unless we get a good pass or a good set,” added Michelle. “It’s a full team effort – do laberos get glory, not all the time but Jim and I try to make sure that it’s known that we sure appreciate our defense and Josi being a dominant leader back there. She’s not a real vocal leader but she leads by example and we’re proud of her for that.”
“Annie (Hayes) is the same,” continued Michelle. “She is not real vocal, she is a quiet leader, she leads by example, she is always smiling and she makes the plays.”
“Their timing is definitely off when Annie swings,” Jim said of opposing teams. “She has a little bit of a hitch to her ‘gitup’ and it drives the defense nuts because they can never time her up. She sacrificed a lot last year going down and playing JV and then coming up here this year. She has been nothing but spectacular and we wouldn’t trade her for the world.”
“Emma (Klosterman) has really come a long way in the two years,” said Jim. “She is a freak athlete that can do whatever you ask her to do. She can jump out of the gym, her swing is never pretty but it always gets the job done.”
“You never really know what Emma is thinking – and her hops,” Michelle said. “We are going to miss that next year. She has done a big job out there and I don’t think she quite realizes what a super athlete she is on the volleyball court.”
“I really think if we would have got Emma earlier she could have wrote her ticket (college) in volleyball because she is that kind of athlete – she can jump,” said Jim. “That is what colleges are looking for – somebody that can elevate above the other team and right now she can get higher than anybody in this conference.”
“Emma is a laid back player,” Michelle added. “She will go out and do what you ask her to do and then she’ll come off (court) and be very supportive of her teammates.”
The husband and wife coaching team of Michelle and Jim Hardesty will be leading the Lady Wave into tournament action while completing two years at the helm of the GHS volleyball program.
“We appreciate the support of the stage crew tonight – they were louder than usual,” said Michelle Hardesty. “We had a great fan base here to support us. We appreciate so much what Greenville is doing to support the volleyball program and Jim and I as coaches, and our players.”
Greenville be in tournament action, Saturday, October 19 at 3:30 p.m. when the Lady Wave take on the winner of the Ben Logan and Kenton Ridge first round tournament match at Tecumseh High School.
