Head Coach Jennifer Golden and her Lady Bulldogs' volleyball team are on a nice roll early in 2015. After opening their season with a tough four-set loss to Class 7A Fayetteville, the Lady Bulldogs defeated another 7A school, Rogers Heritage, in straight sets, 3-0.
But more recently they have notched a series of five victories over Fort Smith Northside, Mena, Fort Smith Southside, Conway, and Mount St. Mary Academy. And even more impressive, four of those five wins all came on the road. The Lady Bulldogs are now 10-3 this season.
Between the Northside and Mena contests, they also played a series of abbreviated matches in a tournament in Bentonville, where they went 3-2 in matches against Ozark, Bentonville, Siloam Springs, and Shiloh Christian.
On August 27th the GHS girls defeated traditional 7A power Northside, 3-1. On August 31st the Lady Bulldogs beat Mena in straight sets, 3-0. They followed up more recently with 3-2 victories over 7A schools Fort Smith Southside and Conway on September 2-3, respectively.
The GHS girls went on the road and defeated the Northside Lady Grizzlies (26-24, 25-20, 18-25, 25-14) in four sets. Senior Erin Black led the squad with 11 kills. Junior Madi Pfiefer had eight kills and sophore Carrie Ciesla had seven. Junior Makenzie Presley had four service aces, while sophomores Brooke Shortes and Lexie Castillow had three aces each. Erin Black added four blocks and Lilliah Pugh three blocks to lead the team.
Greenwood also topped Mena on the road (25-20, 25-11, 25-17), giving the Lady Bearcats their first loss of the season. In the match, Erin Black once again had 11 kills, while senior Regan Jones and sophomore Lilliah Pugh both had seven kills. Pugh also had eight blocks, while senior Kelsey Knox had four serving aces for the Lady Bulldogs.
At Fort Smith Southside, Greenwood won a tough five-set match (25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 18-25, 20-18). Erin Black and Madi Pfiefer led the team with 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Black also had four service aces, tying Brooke Shortes, also with four. Pfiefer and Kelsey Knox each had three blocks.
And in another very tight road match, the Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Wampus Cats of Conway (24-26, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19, 16-14) after being down two sets to one. Erin Black had an amazing 24 kills in the match. Kelsey Knox had 10, while Carrie Ciesla had nine and Madi Pfiefer seven. Lilliah Pugh (9), Pfiefer (8), and Knox (7) led the team in blocks. Knox also had to service aces.
This past Monday at home, the Lady Bulldogs easily topped the Belles of Mount St. Mary in straight sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-11). Individual and team stats were not available at press time.