Greenwood showed it belonged at the Class 5A state finals as the Lady Bulldogs swept two-time defending state champion Jonesboro in three sets Saturday at Bank OZK Arena.
The Lady Bulldogs (21-1) played from behind most of the second and third sets, but they were able to dig themselves out of their own holes to earn the school's third state title.
"We had a game plan and I thought the girls came out poised," Greenwood head coach Jennifer Golden said. "They executed the game plan. We had a few hiccups where we dug some holes out and came out, but overall very pleased. That's kind of been us all year. We've had experience of coming back out of those holes, so I wasn't too worried. This team is a team of all seniors and one freshman, and all of these seniors have played together since they were about 12 years old, so it's been fun to watch them cohesively come together and learn and grow together. This was just the cherry on top."
Jonesboro head coach Craig Cummings said that this was a much different game from last year's semifinal against Greenwood.
"We played as hard as we could," he said. "Maybe didn't execute as clean as we needed to, and I think the experience that Greenwood brought back from last year's team -- and we went five with them last year at the semis -- the experience showed today. Even when we worked out to get leads in the second and third game, coach Golden got them calmed down and kept them steady, and they just chipped away and kept at it. That takes experience to be able to do that."
The Lady Bulldogs started out strong in the first set before Jonesboro senior setter Abby Johnson set up classmate Rosalind Lutes for a kill for a 7-2 deficit. Greenwood extended its lead behind senior Allison Rose, 12-4, as the Lady Hurricane (19-2) struggled to find a rhythm. A pair of attacking errors on Greenwood's end pulled Jonesboro within 16-11 and neither team could maintain service for more than one point as a Jonesboro defensive error gave the Lady Bulldogs the first set, 25-18.
Jonesboro picked up its first lead of the afternoon behind junior Saraya Hewitt, 5-2, and kept its opponent at arms length, stretching out to a 15-8 lead. The Lady Bulldogs began to chip at away at the lead slowly before senior Sami Stilley put up four service points, including an ace and kills from senior Larkin Luke and freshman Myia McCoy, to overtake the Lady Hurricane by two before a blocking error left them with just a 20-19 edge. McCoy and sophomore Claire Chapple turned up their work at the net to take the second set, 25-20.
"I thought we made some really good swings to put the balls down on Greenwood's side, and you can't pick all the numbers who made the digs and when you keep getting the ball up in the air, that's hard," Cummings said.
Jonesboro continued to fight, not backing down in the final set, as Abby Johnson, set the stage for her teammates to find holes in the Lady Bulldogs defense for an 11-3 lead.
Greenwood began to turn the set around behind Luke, with a big block from senior Hannah Watkins, to pull within 4. The spread hovered around 4 points before Pugh stepped to the line, and the Lady Hurricane shot themselves in the foot with multiple attacking errors, falling behind, 19-17.
Jonesboro couldn't keep service as Rose sent over three, including an ace and a block from Luke, for 23-18. Errors against the Lady Bulldogs pulled Jonesboro within 2 as Stilley served up match point and another attacking error closed out the game, 25-21.
Cummings was impressed by Greenwood senior setter Anna Johnson, who received tournament MVP.
"They have a lot of weapons and for her to deliver the ball as well as she does and mix it up as well as she did, it was hard to really key in and try and slow down," he said.
Senior Caylee Ciesla led Greenwood with 12 kills and an assist. Anna Johnson tallied 25 assists and a dig, Watkins finished with six kills and three blocks, McCoy had six kills and a block, Sewell had two kills and three digs, and Luke had three blocks, two kills, an assist and an ace.
For Jonesboro, Lutes finished with seven kills, six digs and a block. Abby Johnson tallied 14 assists and two digs, senior Maggie Orr had 10 digs and three aces, senior Taylor Abernathy had five kills, two digs and an ace, and sophomore Anna Parker had six digs.