By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Lady Wave earn their first MVL win of the season by extending their winning streak over Troy on August 26 at home. After losing 17 games straight to the Lady Trojans, the Lady Wave have won three straight over them.

Head coach Michelle Hardesty said she has had high expectations for her team all preseason long. After a rough start with multiple injuries, the team showcased how fun and good they can be this season.

“They played phenomenal tonight. Came off kind of a disappointing week last week. Again, adversity with some injuries and some illness. We got both of the injuries back on the floor. I think they’re looking strong. Very proud of what they did tonight,” Hardesty said.

The team had their ups and downs during the match. In the first set, Greenville held a firm grip on their lead. They couldn’t extend the lead much as Tory hung around.

Some mistakes by Greenville kept Troy in the game. But as the set slowly started to come to an end, Greenville started to play better. With the team flying to the ball, Greenville won the first set 25-19.

In the second set, Greenville held a 12-8 lead as Troy called a timeout. This time around, Troy climbed out of that deficit with a 6-0 run to take a 12-14 lead.

The Lady Wave hung in there and reclaimed the lead, 18-17. From that point, Greenville gave themselves enough breathing room to relax and play their game.

After two more timeouts, the Lady Wave finished strong to win the second set, 25-20.

Hardesty said with all of the bumps in the road towards this win, the team kept adjusting and improved during each set.

“They just kept learning. They self-correct, do what they’re asked to do. They’ve been really coachable,” Hardesty said. “They played against adversity and stepped up against that challenge. Each set, they kept getting better and better.”

Greenville started out the third set hot with a 7-1 lead. Troy clawed back to make it a 7-6 game.

After not being able to pull away at first, the Lady Wave got back into a rhythm and gained a 17-12 lead. The team then finished the game on an 8-3 run to seal the sweep.

Each player on the team not only did their job, but made the hustle plays to win. They dove on the floor for balls, they ran across the net to get a finger on an attack attempt and kept up the energy.

Greenville is now 2-4 on the season with an 1-2 MVL record. Hardesty said while this was a promising game, there is still more work to be done.

The team will be back at it on August 27 with a road match against Xenia. They will then host Stebbins on August 29 with a scheduled 7 p.m. start.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].