Volleyball Beats Rival Webster, Take Sole Posession of First in SLIAC

Written by Austin Anderson. Media by Ryan St Hill.

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The Greenville Panthers were able to defeat the rival Webster Gorloks in a quick three sets on Tuesday Oct. 29. The first set rallied back and forth until Greenville slowly began to break away with a score of 11 to 9. As the set progressed the Panthers slowly stretched the deficit to four with a score of 18 to 14 in favor of Greenville. Eventually the Gorloks responded, and reduced the difference to only 1 point with a score of 22 to 21. In the final moments of the set the famous Greenville audience filled HJ gymnasium with a symphony of sound. Cheers of encouragement echoed across the court, and helped lead the Panthers to an intense 25 to 23 victory. The Impressive Greenville charge was assisted by freshman, Sierra Ruffner, who dished out a few vital kills during the initial set. Ruffner went on to have 8 overall kills in the match.

Building on the positive energy created by the first match, the Panthers were able to capitalize in the second set. The score for most of the set leaned three points in favor of Greenville. The Panthers were able to carry the momentum from the first set over, and the final score of set two was 25 to 21. Sophomore, Jamie Schollenbruch shined in the second set and was responsible for a plethora of digs. Schollenbruch ended the match with 16 digs.

Senior leadership took over in the third set for Greenville. Unlike the first two sets that were neck and neck, the Panthers pulled away early, and crushed Webster’s hope of coming back. Fairly quickly, Greenville pulled away to a 15 to 8 lead, and ended the game with the score of 25 to 14. Senior, Corinne Coon led the Panthers in their final game effort, and she contributed a total of 13 kills and 10 digs for Greenville in the match.

The result of the game decreased the Webster Gorlok’s record to 13-2 (which is 2^nd in the SLIAC conference). Tuesday’s game was vital because the Panthers were fighting to maintain first place in conference. After earning a couple of victories the Panthers advanced their record to 16-1. Maintaining the top spot in conference is essential for the Panthers as post season approaches. If Greenville can keep their first place position they’ll be given home court honors for the conference tournament, and home court advantage would be very helpful in the pursuit of post season success. Come support your Greenville Panthers volleyball team in their final regular season game at MacMurray on Tuesday, Nov. 5^th.