Crothersville’s Makenna Newberry sets the ball during the match at Medora held on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Medora’s Jenna Bowers, left, returns serve against Crothersville during the match held at Medora High School on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Medora’s Laykin Hinderlider, left, sets the ball during the match against Crothersville held at Medora High School on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Crothersville’s Pearl Shirley takes the shot during the match at Medora on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Crothersville’s Grace Smith, left, and Elayna Ord defend the net during the match at Medora on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Medora’s Jenna Bowers, right, returns the ball during the match against Crothersville on Thursday night.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
MEDORA — After getting swept on Monday by South Decatur, Crothersville head coach Scott Sage challenged his team about consistency and being ready to play.
Sage said the Tigers had a good day of practice on Wednesday, and that carried over into a 3-0 sweep over Medora on the road on Thursday night.
The Tigers defeated the Hornets 25-11, 25-16, 25-13.
“We had some confidence, and I thought it showed tonight,” Sage said. “I tell the kids we need to play our volleyball. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. For the most part, I thought we did that pretty good tonight.”
For Medora, head coach Becca Lucas said she didn’t think her team had a strong mentality on Thursday when things didn’t go their way.
“I think they lost their head space a bit,” Lucas said.
The Hornets made a bit of a run in the second set, rallying off a couple points in a row to take a 13-12 lead over the Tigers.
That was in large part due to the offense from Jenna Bowers and Laykin Hinderlider.
“Jenna and Laykin both, they are just fantastic players,” Lucas said. “They’re always on the ground. They’re always doing something.”
The Tigers were able to stem the Hornets’ run and regain the lead in the second set. Sage said that was all about getting back to playing clean.
“Just no rhythm and no intensity there,” Sage said. “I had to remind them, our goal was to be very business-like tonight, be very focused and intense and try to get everybody a chance to play. That’s what we flipped, and that’s what we did.”
The Tigers were able to serve 13 aces on the night, going 53-67. Senior Carlee Walker had five of those aces.
Makenna Newberry and Zoey Prince each had three aces, and Elayna Ord had one ace.
Walker said she’s confident in her serve, and even though she thought the Tigers could’ve played better on Thursday, she was happy with the win. The senior also led the team with 14 digs.
“We’ve really improved from the beginning of the season,” Walker said. “We have to keep working on covering the middle of the court.”
The Tigers hit 66-73 with 20 kills. Pearl Shirley had 11 kills, Ord and Hayden Pilgrim each had three kills and Prince had one.
For Lucas, she wants to see her team get more aggressive in the pursuit of the ball.
“We’re focusing a lot right now on diving,” she said. “Hitting the floor, not being afraid of it.”
Up next, Medora will host Seven Oaks Classical on Monday in hopes of getting its first win of the season.
As for Crothersville, which has now racked up three wins this season, the Tigers will be off until Sept. 9 when they host Austin at home.
“We’ve got an opportunity now to put up a few more wins,” Sage said.