Shelbyville volleyball drops 5-set heartbreaker to Greenwood

A Livi Lee ace pushed Shelbyville within two points of ending Greenwood’s volleyball season. The Golden Bears never scored again, though.

Following a Woodmen timeout at 13-9 in the fifth and deciding set Thursday at Garrett Gymnasium in Shelbyville, Genevieve Schroeder and Maddison Judge refused to quit.

After consecutive hitting errors by Shelbyville, Judge notched her 19^th kill of the match then Schroeder delivered back-to-back aces to force Shelbyville to call timeout trailing 14-13.

The Golden Bears could not get a good offensive possession off Schroeder’s next serve and Greenwood setter Adrianna Rosebrock set up Judge for one final swing that ended Shelbyville’s season, 25-22, 13-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-13.

“My girls played amazing. Greenwood has always been a tough team,” said Shelbyville head coach Mike Turner. “I think we gave it everything we had. To lose by two in the fifth set is heartbreaking but I am super proud of them.”

The Woodmen (12-17) will face Class 3A, No. 7 New Palestine (27-4) in the second semifinal match Saturday at Shelbyville High School. Class 3A, No. 1 Roncalli (27-5) battles Indian Creek (16-8) in the opening semifinal match.

Shelbyville volleyball won 14 matches in its previous three seasons under three different head coaches. The goal this year was to win at least 10 for a relatively young program that featured just three seniors – Sydney Haehl, Reese Fortune and Livi Lee.

“This team bonded together really quickly,” said Turner of securing the program’s best record (11-21) since finishing 16-14 in 2021. “This is one of the best teams I’ve had in far as coming to practice every day, being positive and working together. This is my second year here now, having some consistency in the coaching position helps out a lot.

“I told them from the beginning they don’t know how talented they are and I still don’t know today if they know how talented they are. We will lose three of them and I hate that, but I truly believe next year we will come out with at least 14 wins.”

Turner confirmed he plans to coach Shelbyville next season as it transitions into the Hoosier Legends Conference along with Greenwood to compete with Triton Central, Beech Grove, Indian Creek, Speedway, Monrovia and Tri-West.

The Golden Bears’ 11 wins included a four-set win over Greenwood on Sept. 4. Judge had a match-high 18 kills in that loss and Turner knew the sophomore would be a force to deal with Thursday in the rematch.

“Maddison is an amazing player. She has a great vertical and she can hit the ball hard,” said Turner. “Unfortunately, most of the balls hit by her we weren’t getting weren’t the hard hits but the tip balls. We were expecting a hard hit and she was tipping it and we weren’t in place to get that.”

Judge had two kills, two digs and two blocks in the opening set but it was freshman Rebekah Linn who delivered consecutive blocks that tied the match and gave the Woodmen the lead, 23-22. She also had the final spike to end the first set.

The Golden Bears never trailed in set two with Lyla Wilson notching four kills and Lee adding three kills, three digs and an ace, her second of four in the match.

Schroeder’s serving kept Greenwood in the third set after falling behind early. Two early aces put the Woodmen up 6-4 then she added consecutive aces to make it 20-13.

The setter Rosebrock ended the set with a quick tip to the floor for a 2-1 advantage.

Shelbyville trailed 6-1 in the fourth set before digging in. Wilson, Lee and Fortune combined for 10 kills. After a Greenwood mishit put the Golden Bears at set point, Lee finished it with a strong spike to push the match to five sets.

Shelbyville led 5-2 early in the fifth set and a Wilson ace made it 10-6 to force a Greenwood timeout.

Linn was instrumental again with a kill to the back line and a block that cut the lead to 10-8.

Lee’s final ace of her career extended the lead to 13-9 and the Woodmen called timeout once again.

The final four points came from Schroeder and Judge. Schroeder finished with 24 digs, 10 kills and nine ages. Judge had 20 kills and four blocks.

Wilson led the Golden Bears with 14 kills. Lee had 13 and Fortune finished with seven. Sophomore Jordyn Noe added eight kills.

Haehl had a team-high 19 digs. Setter Addy Marshall finished with 14 digs and 41 assists. Lee and sophomore Addison Wooten had 12 digs apiece.

The Shelby County Post is a digital newspaper producing news, sports, obituaries and more without a pay wall or subscription needed.