Greenwood senior hitter Leah Martens keeps her emotions in check on the volleyball court.

Greenwood volleyball coach Jason Reels said he likes to call Martens the team’s rock, because no matter what happens she doesn’t let it get to her and remains confident.

“I think she has a calm about her on the court,” Reels said. “Whether things are going well or poorly, you can always look at Leah and you can’t tell. That is probably her biggest quality as a leader – she leads with her game play. She is not the loudest person on the court, but her game play is what leads the team where they need to go.”

Senior libero Brittany Reels expanded on Martens’ steadiness on the court.

“As one of the refs in our region said, she’s an ice princess,” Brittany Reels said. “She doesn’t really show much emotion. She is very consistent with her emotions and play, so it is good to have that steady heartbeat.”

Martens’ steadiness and rock-solid play is one of the reasons why Greenwood is back in the state tournament for the first time since 2012. The Lady Gators open play against Scott at 4 p.m. CDT Friday at Valley High School in Louisville.

She saw limited action as an eighth-grader, the last time Greenwood was in the state tournament – the only player with a link to that state title team and this one. In the four years since that last appearance, Martens remained steady – enduring one of the lowest points in the program’s history to get back to the prominence Greenwood built for more than a decade prior.

Martens said playing as an eighth-grader when Greenwood reached the state quarterfinals — losing to Henry Clay — is kind of blurry now. 

“I remember it being a super-big deal,” Martens said. “I didn’t really play a lot. I only went in to serve. I probably felt a lot more pressure because I was young.”

After that loss, Holly Whittinghill – the only coach in the program’s 13-year history – announced she was stepping down to spend more time with her family. Former player Lauren Brown replaced Whittinghill, but the Lady Gators were unable to sustain the program’s success. 

With the loss of five seniors and other players opting to leave the team, the numbers were down and the program took a hit as Greenwood stumbled to a 13-22 record. The Lady Gators had a 100 match winning streak against District 14 opponents snapped – losing to Bowling Green, South Warren and Warren East for the first time in the program’s history.

Greenwood also had a string of 11 straight district titles and four straight region titles snapped.

Martens said she was frustrated by the year because she hates losing.

“I was not expecting the season that came after that,” Martens said. “It was pretty tough going from the state tournament the year before to not even making it to the region the next year. I didn’t really feel the pressure that year because we weren’t expected to do as well, but it definitely sucked not doing as well as we did the last few years.”

As tough as it was, Martens said she never thought about leaving.

“I love this sport,” Martens said. “I’m not really big on quitting. I knew our program would get better. I mean, you have to start from somewhere.”

Brown resigned in the spring, leaving to pursue her profession outside coaching, and Jason Reels became Martens’ third coach in three years.

Martens said she felt good about having Reels lead the rebuild.

“I had him as a club coach before, so I knew him coming in,” Martens said. “I knew he knew what he was doing and that we were starting to get where we need to be. I knew we had a lot of talent on our team and a lot of talent coming up from the younger girls so that we could build and get this done.”

Greenwood won 21 games in 2014 and won 25 games last season, both times losing to South Warren in the Region 4 title game. Martens said she could see the Lady Gators were almost back.

The comeback was completed last week, when Greenwood beat South Warren to win the Region 4 title.

She said it means a lot to be back in the state tournament.

“I knew how talented our program has always been,” Martens said. “Getting back to where it was before is awesome. I knew that our team was always talented and that we could get it back to where we are now.

“It felt like the program was back on track.”

Now Martens gets another shot in the state tournament, a return trip that took longer than she would have ever expected as an eighth-grader. Martens admits there will be some excitement and nerves, but she is also determined to remain rock steady — and enjoy the moment.

“It will be weird because I won’t just be serving this time,” Martens said. “I am definitely looking forward to it. The past four years I was hoping I would get the chance to go back and play – hoping that eighth grade wasn’t the only chance I’d get to play in the state tournament.”

— Follow sports reporter Micheal Compton on Twitter @mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.