The Greenwood High School volleyball team started this current season without Head Coach Jennifer Golden, who has been sidelined by back troubles since July resulting in surgery two weeks ago. She is still mending and hopes to return to teaching and coaching soon, though full recovery will take several more weeks. Having been in her shoes myself, I wish her well. In her absence, assistant coach Kimberly Lowe has been in charge, supported by junior high coaches Tim Golden and Diane Popp.
But the Lady Bulldogs have struggled in the early going, posting a 1-7 record through the first two weeks of play. That includes tournament action but no conference play, which begins this week. The good news is that the GHS girls have been very competitive in all their matches and four of their seven losses have been to higher classification schools like Fayetteville, Springdale Har-Ber, Bentonville-West, and Fort Smith Northside, all 6A teams.
The true measure of this year’s GHS volleyball squad will be determined over the next six weeks through the double round-robin conference schedule as they battle for a top four finish in the 5A West to qualify for the state playoffs. But the league schedule has gotten tougher than in recent years with the addition of Farmington and Shiloh Christian, both with excellent volleyball programs, to go along with Harrison and Van Buren, also expected to be very good. The other conference schools are Russellville, Alma, and Siloam Springs. Greenwood traveled to Siloam Springs this past Tuesday and will host Russellville on Thursday to kick off the league season.
Fayetteville
In their regular season opener on the road against the Lady Purple Dogs on August 26th, the Lady Bulldogs lost in straight sets, 19-25, 16-25, and 16-25. Across the board, the Fayetteville girls held the offensive advantage with 33 kill shots compared to 23 for the visitors. For Greenwood, junior Anna Grace Dedmon led the way with eight winning slams in 13 attempts. The other Anna, senior Anna Forbus, was next with six kill shots, while seniors Ella Dickinson and Aspen Payton both had three kills each. Fayetteville also had nine service aces while Greenwood had just two.
Defensively, Greenwood did have four blocks, twice as many as the Lady Purple Dogs, and had 46 digs to 41 for Fayetteville. Senior Lexi Wieser led the way for Greenwood with 14 digs, while junior Alyssa Lovell had nine, senior Rylee Daniel had seven, and Aspen Payton with five. Rylee Daniel also led her teammates with 11 assists. Senior Lori Eckart had six. Lexi Wieser had 20 service returns, while Aspen Payton had 14 and Ella Dickinson 13.
Springdale Har-Ber
The next day, on August 27th, the Greenwood ladies hosted the Lady Wildcats and once again lost in straight sets in very competitive fashion, 21-25, 19-25, and 22-25. Once more the opposition held the offensive advantage with 47 kills to just 35 for the home team. Aspen Payton led the way with 10 winning slams for the Lady Bulldogs. Anna Forbus had seven, Ella Dickinson had six, Anna Grace Dedmon five, and Lily Johnson four. The Har-Ber girls also had three service aces to none for Greenwood.
On the defensive side, Springdale had five blocks at the net while the Lady Bulldogs had none. Both teams had over 50 digs with Greenwood getting 59 saves and Har-Ber 51. Lexi Wieser was the GHS leader far and away with 32 digs. Aspen Payton had eight digs and Loren Eckart seven. Greenwood had 27 total assists compared to 44 for the Lady Wildcats. Loren Eckart led the home team with 16 assists while Rylee Daniel had nine. Aspen Payton led in service returns for Greenwood with 23, followed by Lexi Wieser with 16, Ella Dickinson with 10, and Alyssa Lovell with eight.
Springfield Kickapoo
The Lady Bulldogs spent the first Saturday of their regular season, August 31st, playing in the Early Bird Tournament at Bentonville, facing four different opponents, starting with Kickapoo High School of Springfield, Missouri. Greenwood won the three-set match two games to one, 25-19, 20-25, and 16-14. Offensively, the two teams were fairly even. Kickapoo led with 31 kills to 29 for Greenwood. Senior Brianna Wilson had eight slams for the Lady Bulldogs, followed by Anna Grace Dedmon with six. Ella Dickinson and Lily Johnson had four kills each. Kickapoo also had seven service aces to four for the Lady Bulldogs, one each by Anna Grace Dedmon, Rylee Daniel, Lexi Wieser, and Alyssa Lovell.
The Greenwood girls had five blocks at the net to three for the Lady Chiefs. Anna Forbus had three of those blocks while Anna Grace Dedmon had two. Both teams had at least 40 digs, led by Kickapoo with 43. Greenwood’s digs were very evenly distributed among 10 plays, including Lexi Weiser with seven, Alyssa Lovell with six, senior Addison Kittell with five along with Rylee Daniel and Aspen Payton, while Loren Eckart had four saves.
Both teams had 29 assists with Loren Eckart leading the way for Greenwood with 16. Rylee Daniel had 11. The Lady Bulldogs had 42 service returns, led by Lexi Weiser with 13 and Alyssa Lovell with 10. Addison Kittell had seven service receptions, Ella Dickinson with six, and Aspen Payton with five.
Siloam Springs
The GHS girls got their first look at a conference opponent at Bentonville when they faced the Lady Panthers of Siloam Springs, losing in straight sets, 17-25 and 23-25. Offensively, the Lady Bulldogs won the battle at the net with 24 kill shots to just 18 for Siloam Springs. Aspen Payton led Greenwood with eight winning slams. Brianna Wilson was next with four slams while four others had three slams each. They were Anna Grace Dedmon, Ella Dickinson, Lily Johnson, and Anna Forbus. From the service line, the Lady Panthers had four aces to Greenwood’s two, once each by Dedmon and Alyssa Lovell.
On defense, Greenwood had six total blocks, three by Dedmon, two by Dickinson, and one by Forbus. Siloam Springs had four blocks and 31 digs. The Lady Bulldogs had 21 digs, led by Alyssa Lovell with nine. Rylee Daniel and Aspen Payton had three digs each while Lexi Weiser and Loren Eckart had two each. The two squads were virtually even in assists. Siloam Springs had 17 to 18 for Greenwood. The Lady Bulldogs were paced by Rylee Daniel with 10 assists, followed by Loren Eckart with six. Greenwood had 38 service returns to 29 for the opposition. Aspen Daniel had 14 while Lexi Wieser had 13.
Bentonville-West
Match #3 at the Bentonville tournament was against the Lady Wolverines, who defeated Greenwood, 20-25 and 15-25. Greenwood had 16 total kills to 24 for the opposition. The Lady Bulldogs had six players with kill shots, starting with Anna Grace Dedmon with four, Ella Dickinson and Anna Forbus with three each, and Aspen Payton, Lily Johnson, and Brianna Wilson with two each. Greenwood had two service aces to six for the Lady Wolverines.
Both teams had three blocks each and both were almost even in digs. Greenwood had 35 to 33 for Bentonville-West. Lexi Wieser led the way with 14 digs, followed by Alyssa Lovell with eight and Loren Eckart with six. Two GHS players were tied with seven assists each, accounting for most of their total of 16. They were Loren Eckart and Rylee Daniel. From the service line the Lady Bulldogs had 39 successful returns, led by Lexi Wieser with 14 and Aspen Payton with 11. Ella Dickinson also had six service returns.
Greenbrier
Greenwood closed out tournament play against the Lady Panthers of Greenbrier, dropping a highly competitive three-set match, winning the opening set, 26-24, then losing 23-25 and 16-18. The Lady Bulldogs had 23 kill shots at the net, led by Anna Grace Dedmon and Aspen Payton with six each. Ella Dickinson had four slams. Greenwood also had 11 service aces, led by Loren Eckart with five and Rylee Daniel with three.
Also at the net, the Lady Bulldogs had five defensive blocks, four of them by Anna Forbus. Greenwood also had 34 digs in the contest, led by Lexi Wieser with nine and Rylee Daniel, Aspen Payton, and Alyssa Lovell with five each. Loren Eckart had 10 assists while Rylee Daniel had nine. Lexi Wieser led her teammates with 20 service returns, followed by Aspen Payton with 12 and Alyssa Lovell with eight.
Fort Smith Northside
Moving on from the Bentonville tournament, the Lady Bulldogs took on a longstanding non-conference foe in the Lady Bears of Northside, a perennial volleyball power in Class 6A. It was a highly competitive match despite Northside winning in straight sets, 20-25, 27-29, and 22-25. But the Lady Bulldogs lost the battle at the net, notching 31 kills to 45 for the Lady Bears. Aspen Payton led her GHS teammates with 11 kills, followed by Anna Grace Dedmon with nine. Greenwood also had the only service aces in the match with Aspen Payton accounting for two of the three.
Defensively, Northside had six blocks to just two for Greenwood, but both teams racked up more than 75 digs each. The Lady Bears had 77 while the Lady Bulldogs had 78, led by Lexi Wieser with 23, Aspen Payton with 18, and Loren Eckart with 12. The GHS ladies also had 31 assists, 28 of them by Loren Eckart while Greenwood had 71 service returns led by Aspen Payton with 22, Lexi Wieser had 17, and Ella Dickinson had 16.