One misstep is all it takes for a quick end to a brilliant season this time of the year.

Greenwood volleyball coach Jason Reels is all too aware of that danger, and made sure his team stayed mindful of the potential to get anyone’s best shot at any time in the postseason.

“This time of year, we’ve obviously been here the past couple years, and we know when it comes down to regionals it’s win or go home,” Reels said. “So for us, we know that we can’t have a lapse mentally or physically out there on the court. We’ve got to bring it every single time. Everybody we’re playing is either a district winner or district runner-up, so they expect to win just like we do.”

The Lady Gators soon put Reels’ mind at ease Monday against Monroe County in the opening round of the Region 4 tournament at Warren East High School, racing out to a 16-2 lead in the first set to open an eventual 3-0 (25-7, 25-6, 25-13) victory.

Greenwood (32-2) gained a spot in Wednesday’s semifinals, where the Lady Gators will face Logan County in a 6 p.m. match.

To get there, they had to first deal with the Lady Falcons, who were no match for Greenwood in a lone regular-season matchup Sept. 11 that saw the Lady Gators dominate in a 2-0 (25-2, 25-6) victory.

Early on, it appeared a repeat might be in store for Monroe County (14-13), which couldn’t match its opponent’s power at the net. After dropping the opening set by a lopsided margin, the Lady Falcons fell into another tailspin in the second set as Greenwood romped to a 25-6 win.

“It definitely wasn’t our best, but it was a good warm-up,” Lady Gators senior Grace Hewitt said. “I think we deserved to give the other team on the court our best game every time. I think we played fairly well, but we’re ready to match the intensity of the other teams on the court throughout the week.”

The Lady Falcons steadied in the third set, rallying from a 5-1 deficit twice to get within a point. Each time, Greenwood sophomore Annee Lasley answered with a kill to deny Monroe County the satisfaction of pulling even on the scoreboard.

“The greater the lead we have the better, of course, but we were just trying to mainly focus on plays and we weren’t as focused on score as we were on technique,” said Lasley, who finished with a match-high nine kills.

The Lady Falcons were still within two points at 11-9 before Jonaea Blissett’s back-to-back kills created some separation, helping spur a six-point service run by teammate Grace Hewitt that also included a pair of aces to push the lead back to 17-9.

Greenwood’s Alexa Davis finished out the match with an ace.

Blissett added seven kills, Hewitt tallied 13 digs and setter Rileigh Stivers finished with 33 assists for the Lady Gators, who took a 3-0 decision from Logan County on Aug. 31 in their lone meeting this season.

“We played them once this year, we know them pretty well,” Reels said. “They are a quality program. They have a winning tradition there at Logan County and we’re certainly going to have to bring our game up to a different level in order to beat them.”

Logan County 3,

Russell County 0

Logan County’s impressive win was tempered by bad news Monday, as junior Karrah Kron had to exit early with a knee injury originally suffered during PE on Monday at school. Kron tried to make a go of it Monday but had to sit, and Lady Cougars coach Steven Lyne isn’t optimistic she’ll be able to play again in the regional tournament.

“We lost one of our main players tonight and the other girls stepped up and played a big role,” Lyne said. “We’re just going to have to keep the train rolling.”

Logan County (23-14) outclassed the smaller Lakers at the net, as senior hitters Kerra Cornist and Shelby Hardison propelled a dominant 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-12) effort.

“I think that at this point in the season, we’re playing at a really high level and we’re playing at the top of our potential,” Hardison said. “We have a couple things that we could probably work on, but right now I think that we’re coming out to compete and try to win.”