Greenwood, South Warren look to continue rivarly

Published 6:10 pm Friday, August 11, 2017

South Warren's Hannah Yonts (20) hits the ball Thursday, October 27, 2016, during Greenwood's 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19) win in the Region 4 volleyball championship at Cumberland County High School. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

The Greenwood and South Warren volleyball teams have gotten to know each other quite well the last three seasons.

The two schools have met for the Region 4 title in each of the last three seasons, with the Lady Gators breaking through last year after South Warren took the region crown in 2015 and 2016.

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Both are expected to lead the charge again when the season kicks off Monday, only adding fuel to a growing rivalry.

“It’s been a great rivalry,” Greenwood coach Jason Reels said. “They have certainly pushed us and set the bar really high the past couple of years. We were finally able to break through last year, which was huge for our team – especially our seniors. We are really excited about the season coming up.”

Greenwood enters the season ranked eighth in the state in the preseason coaches’ poll, but is one of three teams from District 14 that are in the top 4 in the preseason region rankings – along with South Warren and Bowling Green.

The Lady Gators lose three starters, but return six seniors including Rileigh Stivers, Alexa Davis and Jonaea Blissett. Junior Emmie Bender continues to progress, according to Reels, while sophomore libero Anna Hewitt will be asked to play a bigger role this season.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch this mixture of youth and experience come together,” Reels said.

South Warren will lean on a trio of seniors with plenty of experience – Hannah Yonts, Mary Pitts and Makenzie Allen.

“We always talk with our seniors about being really good leaders,” South Warren coach Justin Griffin said. “So far I think they have done a fantastic job of trying to get everybody on the same page.

“We are trying to make sure that when the end of the season gets here we are playing our best,” Griffin said. “We are just taking it a day at a time, a week at a time, and hopefully building off our early games to build some momentum and carry into late in the season and the postseason.”

Amy Wininger returns to the BG sidelines as head coach, having previously stepped down after two seasons in 2013.

She inherits a team that returns seven seniors, including Grace Murphy and Shea Moore.

Warren East returns six seniors, including Carrie Abney and Elizabeth Young, from a team that won 24 games last season, while Warren Central will look for its first district win since 2012.

“Our district is one of the toughest in the state – competitive from top to bottom,” Griffin said. “You have to go out and play every single game. From what Greenwood returns from last year, I think they feel pretty good about where they are and the same thing with Bowling Green.

“Warren East lost some good players, but I think some of their younger group is going to step in and build that program up. Central has certainly taken the right steps to compete in our district. It’s always very tough trying to get out of district. Then in the region you look at Logan County, Monroe County and Russell County playing really good volleyball. Our district and region is very tough.”

Reels said if you can survive the district gauntlet, it will prepare you for a run at a region title as well.

“We certainly beat each other up in our district and there is a lot of talent all the way around,” Reels said. “It’s not just the rivalry with South and us. They all have a lot of talent, a lot of experience coming back this year. We know when we step on the court we are the defending region champs.

“We’ve got to expect that everybody is going to give us their best game and we have to be able to match that intensity. It’s definitely going to be another dogfight in our district and our region.”{&end}