For The Tribune

CROTHERSVILLE

The Crothersville volleyball team got better with each game, but Henryville had a veteran team and the Hornets downed the Tigers 25-8, 25-10, 25-16 in a Southern Athletic Conference matchup Monday.

Henryville had several veteran hitters, and it was hard for the Tigers to stop the Hornets, who were able to find holes in the defense.

“We played a very good team. We saw them in the Henryville tournament,” Tigers coach Linda Luedeman said. “We came in second there and lost to Henryville in the finals. It took us a couple of games (tonight) to get warmed up. We did play better the third game.”

With the score 11-6 in the first game, Henryville reeled off eight straight points with good serving and hitting.

The Hornets then cruised to the first-game victory 25-8.

In the second game, with the score 12-6, the Hornets scored six straight points to lead 18-6 before closing the game out.

The Tigers made it close in the third game.

With Crothersville down 13-4, Maddie Riley scored six straight service points to make it only a 13-10 deficit.

The teams traded points until Riley recorded a kill to make it 18-15.

The Hornets then recorded a kill of their own and scored three straight points to lead 21-15.

The Tigers scored once more, before the Hornets finished it out with a 25-16 win.

Riley led the Tigers making all 10 of serves and Brittany Clem was a perfect six-for-six on the night.

Hitting, the Tigers struggled as a team making eight on 16 attempts with two kills.

“We finally started hitting that third game,” Luedeman said. “We were always on the defense, and we finally got to play some offense. The Tigers had more sets and kills in the third set which kept the third game very close.

“Also their serving, digs and passing were much better in the third game.”

The Tigers are now 6-12 for the season and play again at Medora on Thursday before hosting Madison Shawe on Friday.