PARKERSBURG - Veteran Parkersburg High School head volleyball coach Carl Harnish has been through his fair share of senior nights and his philosophy is a simple one - if you win then it's a good night.
Such was the case here Tuesday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse as the Big Reds upped their record to 31-13-4 by collecting three victories. Two of those came against fellow Mountain State Athletic Conference foes in Woodrow Wilson (25-19, 25-21) and Cabell Midland (29-27, 25-14). The red and white also knocked off defending Class AA state champion Oak Glen - 25-17 and 26-24.
Prior to the quad, Big Red seniors Morgan Armstrong, Imani Ward, Megan Morrison, Rachel Slone and Paige Warner were honored.
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Photo by Jeff Baughan
Parkersburg's Imani Ward spikes the ball against Woodrow Wilson Tuesday. Parkersburg scored a 2-0 win against the Flying Eagles
The final match of the night featured the Big Reds hanging on against Cabell Midland to win the opening set while in the 25-14 win the Knights, who are still without the services of senior setter Taylor Reidel, never got untracked.
"Cabell Midland has a great team and number four (Cassie Weaver) is a great hitter," said Harnish, whose team got a combined 11 service points from Morrison and Kaitlin Farrah along with eight kills from Warner and seven downed spikes from Ward versus the Knights.
"They play great defense and coming away with a two game win against them is good, especially that first game when we ran out of substitutions and everybody had to stay in. But, they came through and that's what counts."
Cabell Midland, which got four points from both Weaver and Keely Thompson along with 14 Claudia Chapman assists and a combined 13 kills from Weaver and Jenny Brumfield, actually staved off four set points against the Big Reds before Armstrong ended it with an ace.
The Big Reds, who play host to the MSAC tournament on Saturday, had six of their 20 service errors in that first set against the Knights.
"That's too many," Harnish noted. "If we just cut out the unforced errors we'll be in great shape."
Parkersburg's match against CMHS was actually finished before Oak Glen trumped Woodrow Wilson 25-18, 18-25 and 25-22 to finish the quad. Golden Bear Abby Tice earned match point when Jessica Stivason registered a kill from a Carissa Williams assist. Cabell Midland swept Oak Glen 25-12 and 25-16 and also defeated the Flying Eagles by scores of 25-17 and 25-18.
In the setback to PHS, the Flying Eagles were paced by Adriana Thomas with six points and as many kills. Emily Ernest had 10 assists and teammate Anne Patterson had both three downed spikes and a trio of kill blocks, but Woodrow Wilson did lose Whitney Waldron to an ankle injury. Farrah tallied 13 points, Lyxis Reeder had 14 assists, Morrison finished with 14 digs and the duo of Ward and Warner put down two dozen kills.
The hitting of Ward and Warner combined for 18 kills against Oak Glen, which received seven downed spikes from Stivason and nine combined points from Tice and Lacee Porter. Versus the now 33-6 Golden Bears, Armstrong had nine service tallies to go along with three aces while Jordan Lallemeont chipped in eight assists, three points and an ace.
