Greensburg successfully defended its 3A volleyball sectional title at Batesville Saturday with wins over the host Bulldogs and the Tigers of Lawrenceburg. The semifinals and finals were heard on WRBI.
It was the sixth championship for coach June Rigney’s Pirates overall and third in the last four years.
The day started for GCHS with a 3-1 victory over Batesville in the opening semifinal.
In the first set, coach Kateri Paul’s Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-1 lead and led by as many as eight points again at 12-4. Greensburg started to pick away at the lead, then a 7-0 surge by the Lady Buccaneers moved the Pirates in front briefly, 21-21. However, BHS got the lead back and fought of G-burg to win 25-23.
In game two, it was Greensburg which got off to a fast start scoring the first seven points. But the Pirates were outdone by the Bulldogs which posted the next 10 to take a 10-7 lead. Down 14-12, GCHS caught fire and scored 14 of the next 15 points to win 25-15.
The third set didn’t see the big points swings as the set prior. After the Dogs scored the first three points, Greensburg garnered the next six to grab the lead and never gave it back. The Pirates created a 10-point separation, 23-13. The Bulldogs tried to make a late run but had too much ground to make up with too little points left as the defending champs won 25-18.
The fourth and final game was the most entertaining of all. There were five ties and eight lead change as neither team led by more than four points. With the set tied 18-18, the Pirates broke the tie and held of the Bulldogs to post a 25-22 victory and win the semifinal 3-1.
In the second semifinal, Lawrenceburg beat South Dearborn 3-0, but the underdog Knights showed a lot of fight.
SD held an early 4-0 lead in the opening set but LHS went on a 7-1 run to go up 7-5. The Tigers later closed on a 15-2 spurt to win game one, 25-10.
In the second set, coach Staci Knigga’s Tigers built a five-point lead only to see Denise Rose’s Knights fight back to go up 14-13. However, for a second straight game, Lawrenceburg closed strong with a 12-2 burst to win 25-14.
LHS looked like it was going to waltz through the third set, leading 9-1 at the start and 18-9 midway through. But SD refused to go away quietly and scored 11 of the next 12 points to go up 20-19. However, the Tigers were able to regroup, regain the edge to claim the third set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
That set up the sectional final between two programs who have won every 3A-29 Sectional since 2014 with one exception- Madison in 2017. Lawrenceburg took home the trophy in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Greensburg had possession of the hardware in 2018 and 2020.
The Pirates earned bragging rights for another year as Greensburg defeated Lawrenceburg 3-0.
Story continues.