Greenfield blasts past Routt

Tuesday’s match was a first for every single one of the 15 members of Greenfield’s varsity volleyball team.

Hosting perennial Western Illinois Valley Conference contender Routt, the Lady Tigers defended their home court and beat the Lady Rockets for the first time in four years. Greenfield bested Routt in two games, 25-15, 25-14.

“It’s awesome. We’ve been waiting for this for four years now,” said Greenfield senior setter Hattie Plogger. “Routt’s always our biggest competitor. The team has really been looking forward to this game.”

Greenfield (5-0, 3-0) took control from the start, and led 8-0 right off the bat in the first game. Routt’s only lead in the match came after winning the first two points of the second game.

“I knew that we had it in us,” said senior middle hitter Olivia Walker. “When we dominated the first couple points, I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be a great game.’”

Routt (10-3, 0-1) couldn’t recover from its slow start in the first. The Lady Rockets never came closer than five points from the lead, and Greenfield wrapped it up when Plogger found senior Paige Vinyard on a back set to win 25-15.

The second game followed a similar script.

Routt scored the first two points of the second game, but Greenfield scored six of the next seven to take a 6-3 lead. Routt stayed close, and trailed by only two points at 13-11, but Greenfield ran off 10 straight points with senior Emily Pembrook serving to go up 23-11.

The Lady Tigers won the second game shortly after when Routt’s Molly Stice hit a serve just beyond the back line.

“This is by far the best that we’ve played this year,” said Greenfield coach Julie Williams. “We’ve only had four games, and I think each game we’ve improved on the last game, so yes, I would say this is the best game we’ve played.”

Walker had a team-high eight kills for Greenfield. Plogger had 12 assists, and Emily Pembrook and Leah Pembrook both had long serving runs.
Emily Pembrook had 15 total service points, including 10 in a row in the decisive second game. Leah Pembrook had 10 service points, eight of which came at the beginning of the first game.

“Our passers were doing their job, our setters were doing their job and the hitters were doing their job,” Williams said. “I couldn’t ask any more from all 15 of them.”

Routt coach Pat Gibson, meanwhile, was less than pleased with his team. The coach cited a number of reasons why the Lady Tigers were better than his Lady Rockets Tuesday, but said the foremost reason was simply his team’s lack of emotion.

“We let the team on the other side of the net come and play with more excitement than we did, and when you do that, you’re going to get beat by good teams,” Gibson said.

The Routt coach said that after every point Greenfield scored, the players, the bench and the coaches all celebrated. When his team scored, he didn’t see that.

“If we did something good, it was kind of, ‘Aw, we’re supposed to,’” Gibson said. “It doesn’t work that way. You’re competing. When you do something good, you earn it, and you better celebrate it.”

Routt’s Morgan Eilering led the team with five kills. Setter Erika White had eight assists.

Greenfield improved to 5-0 with the win while Routt fell to 10-3.

Gibson said the loss didn’t bother him as much as it would some other coaches. Gibson said the postseason is what’s most important to his team.

“It’s only the 13th match of the year. This didn’t cost us anything tonight other than maybe a conference title,” he said. “But our conference trophies hold up our regional plaques. We’re worried about the postseason.”

Greenfield’s Williams said she enjoyed the win, but was already looking forward to a conference game with West Central on Thursday. Three of Greenfield’s five wins have come against conference opponents.

“It’s a great feeling,” she said of Tuesday’s win. “I don’t know if it’s really sunk in yet to all of us, but we just beat Routt, so it’s an amazing feeling.”