GREENFIELD — They came in with the same records and both had key players out.
The difference was depth and experience.
They were complete opposites on those accounts.
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Greenfield-Central’s veteran roster, which includes eight seniors, beat senior-less Pendleton Heights, 3-0, Thursday at Greenfield-Central High School.
The Cougars won by set scores of 25-14, 25-11, 25-17. Greenfield-Central has won five in a row since a five-set loss to unbeaten Yorktown on Sept. 23.
“I think our game, after Yorktown, really showed us we have the ability to beat strong teams,” G-C senior outside hitter Ava Antic said. “We keep that in our mind and it reassures us to play our game.”
G-C is 18-6 overall and 3-3 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Pendleton Heights dropped to 17-7 and 2-4 in the HHC.
The Cougars were playing without senior outside hitter Makayla Price, who is second on the team averaging 2.5 kills per set. Cougars head coach Ron Heck said he believes Price will be back this weekend.
The news wasn’t as good for the Arabians, who were playing without junior standout Avery Ross whose 4.3 kills per set and .338 hitting percentage both rank third in the HHC. She leads the conference with 62 service aces and an average of 1.2 per set, .5 better than her closest competitor.
“We knew they were fighting the injury bug right now,” Heck said. “We stressed to our team and they knew their rock stars were not in. We wanted to be very aggressive out of the gate and set the tone early.”
Pendleton Heights coach Blair Barksdale said Ross, who was wearing a walking boot on Thursday, has a stress fracture and will miss the remainder of the season.
“We were pretty disappointed with the lack of competitive edge we had tonight,” Barksdale said. “Everyone goes through injuries, or is battling COVID and different situations. It was disappointing that we came out tentative. We looked like we were afraid to make errors, very flat.”
Antic led the attack for the Cougars with 17 kills, including eight in the second set. Brooke Herrell had eight, with five in the opener. Senior blocker Kenley Carpenter had five kills and five blocks. She had three blocks in the second set.
“Coach Heck always says to feed the horses if they’re hot and keep setting them. I think that’s something we do,” Antic said of the scoring runs. “If I get a few kills, our setters usually key in on that and set whoever is hot. They also switch it up every once in a while to give people a break, and it helps spread the block apart.”
Morgan Hornaday had 20 assists. Ali Knecht added 12. Libero Rachel Campbell had two.
The Cougars had big runs in each set to pull away from the young Arabians.
At 14-14 in the third, Greenfield-Central went on a 9-0 run. Five of the points came on Pendleton Heights’ errors, but Antic had a pair of kills. Emma Berty had one and Antic and middle hitter Molly Schwarzkopf combined on a block.
In the second, trailing 3-2, the Cougars scored nine straight. Antic led the way with five kills, including four on consecutive points.
In the opener, G-C had a pair of 4-0 flurries, the latter gave the hosts a 17-9 lead.
“I think on the run (in set 3), it kind of put them on their heels a little bit,” Heck said. “I think Brooke and Ava were very accurate on shot selection in our attack tonight. It’s something we worked on this week in practice.”
The Cougars schedule does not get any easier. They will host 16-5 Fishers on Saturday and welcome unbeaten Hamilton Southeastern on Tuesday.
“With those big games coming up, we needed a win tonight,” Antic said.
