By KEVIN HARRIS
NEW ALBANY – On Aug. 26 at New Albany High School, New
Albany and Jeffersonville exited the River City Invitational feeling very
positive.
The Bulldogs captured the championship of their annual
tournament by defeating Greenfield-Central in the title match 25-20, 25-16.
They earned their berth in the River City final by winning Pool A. New Albany
defeated Corydon Central (25-7, 25-9) and Evansville Central (25-15, 25-14) in
both of its pool-play matches.
“We played well all day,” Bulldogs’ head coach John Breeding
said. “We did what we should’ve done in my opinion in our pool play. We’ve
initiated kind of a new offense for us. We’re working on some things that by
the end of the year we have to be able to do on a consistent basis. Greenfield
is a good team. I’m super, super proud of the girls of the way they played in
that entire match and stayed focused.
“The neat thing about today is that we got contributions
from everybody.”
The Red Devils wound up third in the River City Invite. Jeff
split both of its Pool B matches. The Red Devils began the day with a 25-20,
25-9 triumph over North Harrison. They lost their second pool match to
Greenfield-Central 25-20, 25-19.
Jeff (3-5) ended its day by winning the third-place match
over Evansville Central 25-23, 20-25, 25-17. Individual statistics for the Red
Devils were not provided for this article.
“We had our ups and downs, but (the Jeff players) definitely
overcame all the obstacles that came our way,” first-year Jeff head coach Sam
Calabro said. “We noticed the little things that we’ve been working on in
practice and we’ve been noticing players actually implementing the tiny details
of the fundamentals. They stayed positive the whole time. I was very, very
proud of how they played today.”
Calabro is seeing improvement in the Red Devils at this
point in the season.
“It was a slow start. But I think now the girls are more
comfortable with each other,” she said. “We’re going back to the basics and
fundamentals in practice, and I think it’s really helping them in game
situations. I think the harder we go in practice, the harder we’ll play in
games against competition. We’re definitely focusing on the very small
details.”
On the day for New Albany (7-1), junior setter Kyla Weber
distributed 52 assists, senior middle blocker Allyson Cathey smacked 22 kills
and freshman defensive specialist Bree Martin had six service aces.
In the victory over Corydon, Bulldog sophomore Riley Winslow
had a team-high eight kills and teammate Shea Collett made nine digs.
Versus Evansville Central, Cathey led New Albany in kills
with eight along with making seven digs. Martin had 11 kills and Winslow served
three aces.
Against Greenfield-Central, Cathey ended up with eight digs
and seven kills and Winslow had six kills and six digs.
Breeding liked how his team persevered in the victory over
Greenfield-Central.
“In the second game, we said to them, ‘Guys, you’ve got to
learn to stay focused and finish. Don’t let them back into this game.’ They did
that,” Breeding said. “We’re doing a lot of good things right now. Our seniors
are leading well and our younger kids are starting to climb that ladder.”
Breeding gave lots of credit to his assistant coaches –
Shayla Finley, Maria Jacobs, Samantha Miszkiel and Ryan Woosley - in getting
the Bulldogs ready for the River City Invite.
“My assistant coaches are really helping a lot,” Breeding
said. “Our new assistant, Ryan Woosley, brings a lot of new and exciting things
to the table, so I’m really happy with that.”
RIVER CITY
INVITATIONAL
At New Albany
POOL A
New Albany d. Corydon Central 25-7, 25-9
Evansville Central d. Corydon Central 23-25, 25-19, 25-18
New Albany d. Evansville Central 25-15, 25-14
POOL B
Jeffersonville d. North Harrison 25-20, 25-19
Greenfield-Central d. North Harrison 25-10, 25-14
Greenfield-Central d. Jeffersonville 25-20, 25-19
FIFTH-PLACE MATCH
North Harrison d. Corydon Central 20-25, 25-16, 25-14
THIRD-PLACE MATCH
Jeffersonville d. Evansville Central 25-23, 20-25, 25-17
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
New Albany d. Greenfield-Central 25-20, 25-16
NEW
ALBANY STATS
VS.
CORYDON CENTRAL
Riley
Winslow: 8 kills, 6 digs.
Allyson
Cathey: 7 kills, 2 aces.
Kyla
Weber: 16 assists.
Mary Claire Meyer: 2
aces.
Shea Collett: 9
digs, 2 aces.
Bree Martin: 5
digs, 2 aces.
VS. EVANSVILLE
CENTRAL
Cathey: 8 kills,
7 digs.
Collett: 5 kills.
Tess Owsley: 4
kills.
Weber: 17 assists.
Winslow: 3 aces.
Martin: 11 digs, 2
aces.
Meyer: 5 digs.
VS.
GREENFIELD-CENTRAL
Cathey: 8 digs, 7
kills.
Winslow: 6 kills,
6 digs.
Collett: 5 kills.
Weber: 19 assists.
Martin: 2 aces.
Meyer: 5 digs.
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