The Greenwood volleyball team opened the Allen Whittinghill era in impressive fashion with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-11) win Thursday at Warren East.

Greenwood (1-0 overall, 1-0 District 14) controlled the net, with five players recording at least six kills, and cruised to victory in Whittinghill’s debut as head coach.

“I had a feeling we were going to come out hungry because we had some rough days in practice,” Whittinghill said. “We’ve been working on some changes that they are not used to, so I was hoping they would respond.

“I think they were a little nervous, a little jittery, and to come out and squash those right away was a big help.”

Greenwood opened the season in the same venue where its season ended last year, when the Lady Gators lost a 3-2 thriller to South Warren in the Region 4 finals.

Any bad memories from last season were quickly dispatched, with Greenwood jumping out to an 11-0 lead in game one. The Lady Gators continued to pull away in the first game, with Emmie Bender recording eight kills and Annee Lasley recording four aces.

“The girls did think about that, but I said, ‘It’s time to re-establish this gym as a gym we play good in,’ ” Whittinghill said. “It was a good battle here last year for the region. I was here as a spectator watching. I am glad that they came in and got to re-establish themselves in this gym because they needed that.”

Warren East (4-1, 1-1) scored the first point in game two on a kill by Caroline Forrester, but Greenwood scored the next seven points to take lead for good and extend its lead in the match to 2-0 overall.

Greenwood never trailed in game three, using a 7-0 run early to build a 13-5 advantage. Warren East was unable to get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“We were ready to play,” Bender said. “We were really excited. It’s our first game of the season and we were just ready to come and play our game.”

Bender led the Lady Gators with 11 kills and three aces. Katie Howard had eight kills and two aces, Lasley finished with seven kills and two aces, while Carly Miller and Ella Crowe had six kills each.

“We are not always trying to be balanced,” Whittinghill said. “We are trying to go to who is hot, but tonight we had to balance and bring it. We have a lot of good athletes. I like how our setter (Julia Kennedy) is running the offense. Julia is making good decisions, keeping everyone involved. She did an excellent job tonight.”

Jordan Fulkerson led Warren East with seven kills, while Forrester added four kills.

“They run a very fast offense,” Warren East coach Gary Bloyd said. “I’ve got young girls up front that have never seen that and it took them some time to adjust to that.

“I am pleased. I am tickled to death. I think that is the best we have done against them in three years, not just varsity. We have to go back to work, work on our hitting and work on our passing.”

Greenwood will play at Bowling Green at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Warren East will face Muhlenberg County in the Apollo Summer Slam at 6 p.m. Friday.