GHS head volleyball coach Jennifer Golden has never dodged tough competition in her prior 21 seasons with the Lady Bulldogs, so she wasn’t about to start this year, taking her team to Fayetteville last Monday evening to face the mighty Lady Purple Dogs. The Fayetteville girls have three division-I college-bound recruits and may be the best team in the state this year across all classifications, and they gave evidence of that with a three-game sweep of the Lady Bulldogs.
“They are loaded,” said Golden of Fayetteville in an earlier interview. “They have a senior committed to Florida State. One committed to Stanford, and one committed to Dartmouth. It’s going to be hard to touch them this year. But we played them in team camp this summer and we held our own. We have a lot of work to do, but I feel like we’ll be much more [competitive] when we go back.”
True to their coach’s words, the Lady Bulldogs played well, especially in the first game before falling 25-21. They then lost the next two games by identical 25-14 scores. The match was the season-opener for both teams. Fayetteville plays in Class 6A and are the defending state champs, while Greenwood competes in Class 5A, losing in the state quarterfinals in 2021.
For Greenwood, Landis Luke led the team with six slams, while fellow senior Lane Presley had five kills and junior Keara Rice added four kills. The team combined for 19 slams. Junior Carsyn Holland had two of Greenwood’s three service aces and also had nine digs to lead her teammates. Junior Tori Howard had five digs and senior Rylie Holland had four.
Senior Ashlyn Butler had six assists and Rylie Holland had four, while junior Myia McCoy led the team with 13 service receptions. Senior Lillyanna Gigerich had eight service receptions, Carsyn Holland had seven, Keara Rice six, and senior Lilly Williams had five.
Springdale Har-Ber
Why stop with playing one tough 6A school when you can play another one just three days later? This time it was the Lady Wildcats of Springdale Har-Ber, who traveled to Greenwood last Thursday, falling in four sets, 3-1. The host Lady Bulldogs won the opening game 25-17 but dropped the second game, 18-25, to the visitors. Greenwood then took game three by five points, 25-20, before winning in overtime, 26-24, in the decisive fourth game.
Compared to the Fayetteville match, the GHS girls were very active and successful at the net, with a total of 56 kill shots, led by Myia McCoy’s 18 slams. Landis Luke had eight kills, Lilly Williams had seven, Lane Presley six, sophomores Ella Dickinson and Anna Forbus with five kills each, and Keara Rice with four.
Lane Presley had three service aces and Myia McCoy had two and the same two girls tied for the lead in blocks with four each. Tori Howard had 12 digs to lead the squad with McCoy right behind with 11. Ashlyn Butler had nine digs while Lilly Williams, Rylie Holland, Carsyn Holland, and Lillyanna Gigerich had four each.
Butler and Rylie Holland were the team’s top ball handlers with 18 and 15 assists, respectively. Tori Howard contributed with five assists and tied for the team lead in service receptions with 20, the same as Myia McCoy. Carsyn Holland had seven, Lillyanna Gigerich and Lilly Williams had five each, and Riley Golden had four service receptions.
Early Bird Tournament – Bentonville
This past Saturday the Lady Bulldogs returned to Northwest Arkansas to take part in a multi-team tournament at Bentonville, facing a series of excellent teams from Arkansas and Missouri. The GHS girls opened play that morning against the host Lady Tigers, falling to the Bentonville girls, who won in straight sets, 30-28, 25-23.
As indicated by the scores, the match was extremely close and competitive. Greenwood had 21 kills in the two games, led by Myia McCoy’s eight slams. Both Riley Golden and Lane Presley had two services aces and McCoy had two of Greenwood’s four blocks. Carsyn Holland (11) and Lillyanna Gigerich (7) led the team in digs while sophomore Loren Eckart (9) and Rylie Holland (8) led the squad in assists. Riley Golden (12) and Carsyn Holland (11) were one-two in service receptions.
Greenwood then got an early look at 5A West conference member Greenbrier, taking down the Lady Panthers in two straight games by identical 25-19 scores. According to Coach Golden, Greenwood and Greenbrier are expected to be two of the top teams in the league this season, so a tournament win over the Lady Panthers is a good start for the GHS girls.
Three Lady Bulldogs had six kills each – Landis Luke, Lane Presley, and Myia McCoy – while Riley Golden had two of Greenwood’s four blocks for the match. Carsyn Holland (6) and Riley Golden (4) were the team leaders in digs. Rylie Holland and sophomore Loren Eckart led the squad in assists with 11 and nine, respectively. Carsyn Holland had 12 service receptions.
Greenwood’s next opponent was another 6A powerhouse, the Lady Wampus Cats of Conway, and yet once again the Lady Bulldogs were very competitive, dropping the first game, 25-22, and the second, 25-18. Offensively, Greenwood attacked the net with 18 total kill shots, six by Myia McCoy and four each by Landis Luke and Lane Presley.
The coach’s daughter, Riley Golden, had two service aces while Riley Holland and Anna Forbus had three digs each. Riley Holland also led her teammates with 10 assists, while Ashlyn Bulter had five. Tori Howard (14) and Myia McCoy led the team in service receptions.
Greenwood’s first out-of-state opponent were the Lady Tigers of Carthage, Missouri. It was also the Lady Bulldogs’ first three-set match of the tournament, splitting the first two games by identical scores of 25-14 before winning the decisive game three, 15-7. At the net the Lady Bulldogs had four players with four or more kills, including Myia McCoy (5) and Ella Dickinson, Lilly Williams, and Landis Luke, all with four each.
Lillyanna Gigerich had two service aces to lead the team, while Lane Presley had two of Greenwood’s four blocks. Carsyn Holland had 13 of the team’s 32 total digs, and two players, Rylie Holland and Ashlyn Butler, tied with 11 assists each. Carsyn Holland (8), sophomore Lexi Wieser (6), Myia McCoy (6), and senior Sara Dungan (5) led the team in service receptions.
Greenwood’s other Show Me State opponent last Saturday were the Lady Jaguars of Blue Springs, Missouri, who managed to win both games over the Lady Bulldogs, 25-16 and 25-20. Offensively, the GHS girls were held to just 14 kill shots in the truncated match. Keara Rice led the team with five slams, followed by Landis Luke with four.
Greenwood had no service aces in the match and four total blocks, led by Lane Presley’s three. Rylie Holland and Ashlyn Butler had five digs apiece and Carsyn Holland had three saves. Butler also led the team in assists with seven, followed by Rylie Holland with four. Myia McCoy and Lillyanna Gigerich led their teammates with nine service receptions each.
Before wrapping up their day, the Lady Bulldogs also faced another Arkansas 6A power in the Lady Mountaineers of Rogers High School, battling to a 25-all tie in the first game before Greenwood pulled out the 27-25 win in overtime. But the Rogers girls rallied to win the next two games, 25-17 and 15-10.
For the match the Lady Bulldogs had 28 kills at the net, led by Keara Rice with seven, Myia McCoy with five, Lane Presley with four, and Landis Luke and Anna Forbus with three each. The Lady Bulldogs had a total of six service aces, led by Rylie Holland with two. Four other players had one ace each while Myia McCoy had all three of the team’s blocks.
Carsyn Holland had 11 digs to lead the squad, while Riley Golden had seven, Rylie Holland and Lillyanna Gigerich five each, while Ashylyn Butler and Myia McCoy had four saves each. Butler led in assists with 11 and Rylie Holland had seven. Myia McCoy (12), Carsyn Holland (11), and Riley Golden (10) led the team in service receptions.
Upcoming schedule
After Saturday’s tournament marathon at Bentonville, the Lady Bulldogs are off until next Thursday, September 1st, when they host the Lady Mavericks of Fort Smith Southside at 4:30 p.m. with the junior varsity match followed by the varsity. The time off will allow the GHS girls to work on aspects of their game exposed during Saturday’s tournament.
They will begin conference play the following Tuesday, September 6th, also at home against the Russellville Lady Cyclones. Two days later they will travel to Van Buren on Thursday, September 8th, to take on another conference contender in the Lady Pointers.