Osgood Journal Sports

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UPDATED BY MARIA SIEVERDING OCTOBER 25, 2016 1 P.M.

South Ripley Lady Raiders slay the competition, advance to Regional

Gary Franklin
SPORTS EDITOR

The 2016 South Ripley Lady Raiders, led by Head Coach Robyn Greiwe, earned the IHSAA Girls Class 2A Volleyball Sectional #45 Championship Title against the Southwestern Rebels with a 2-1 set on October 22 at North Decatur High School. Match victories were 16-25, 25-9 and 33-31
The six-team tournament found opening action on Thursday evening with a 6 p.m. contest between the Southwestern Hanover Lady Rebels advancing with a 3-0 set, match victory by scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-15 over the Switzerland County Lady Pacers. Thursday evening’s second match at North Decatur found the visiting Austin Lady Eagles in battle against the hosting North Decatur Lady Chargers. Results found Austin the advancer after their 3-0 set/match victory by scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-14. Opening Saturday, Oct. 22, action pitted the Southwestern Hanover Lady Rebels against the Austin Lady Eagles, with the ORVC 6-0 regular season conference champion Lady Rebels securing advancement to the championship match after three set/match winning scores recorded at 25-18, 25-21 and 27-25.

South Ripley Girls Volleyball GARY FRANKLIN PHOTO
South Ripley Lady Raiders hustle as they do all that is necessary to advance their cause during the 2016 IHSAA Class 2A Girls Volleyball Sectional #45 action. Pictured above from left are senior 9 – Laken Farrell, junior 8 – Toria Tucker, junior 2 – Kyley Sparks, and senior 5 – Hannah Schwarte.

All three matches were well contended; however, the third going to extra points before finally favoring the Lady Rebels to earn the championship game spot. Southwestern Hanover had a sufficient lead nearing the conclusion with the Lady Eagles charge making it most interesting by matches’ end. The South Ripley Lady Raiders Sectional debut was on Saturday, Oct. 22, the second game action played at the North Decatur High School hosting site against the Milan Lady Indians which found South Ripley a 3-0 set/match advancer to the championship game Saturday night against the Southwestern Hanover Lady Rebels at 7 p.m. Lady Raiders vs. Milan Lady Indians resulted in a 3-0 set/match victory by SR by set scores of 25- 12, 25-20 and 25-15.

Coach Greiwe stated, “Our offense controlled the match with Milan. We have a tremendous size advantage over Milan, and we just have so many offensive weapons that allowed us to dominate at the net. It was a nice game to help prepare us for the sectional atmosphere. It was a little slow and helped us work on some things that we had been preparing for all week at practice.
“So proud of the girls for executing those preparations.”

Championship match vs. Southwestern
“We knew we had to start off strong in set 1 but, unfortunately, Southwestern jumped out to a 5-0 lead. We couldn’t get in an offensive rhythm and we couldn’t make a run at them. We were behind the whole set and lost 16-25,” stated Coach Greiwe. Greiwe went on to say, “Some losses are a blessing in disguise. I felt like the conference loss to them during the season helped us prepare for them harder for sectional, and I felt like losing that first set in the sectional only made us more determined. We dug deep and came back at them in set 2 with the most amazing intensity that I have seen all season and we won 25-9!”

It was all heart and determination from there as set three was a back and forth battle of the wills with South Ripley prevailing 33-31. Set four was much the same back and forth battle with several ties, but again SR’s determination came through for the 25-22 set win for the match and sectional championship!”
Coach Greiwe noted, “Everyone contributes and we always have a balanced attack. Everyone has a specialty and it is to amazing to see them all come together at the best time. I am so proud of these girls for all of their hard work they have put in over the years.”

The Regionals will be held Tuesday (tonight) October 25 at Paoli where South Ripley will play against the Paoli Rams at 7 p.m.

Read the stats from the Milan game and the championship Southwestern game on page 5 of the Osgood Journal.