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Williamstown wins regional championship

Williamstown setter BreeAnn Reynolds punches the ball across the net as Wirt County’s Kylie Stephens tries to block it during Saturday’s Class A, Region IV championship match in Ravenswood. The Yellowjackets defeated the Tigers in four sets, but both programs advanced to Friday’s state quarterfinals in Charleston. Photo by Michael Uhl.

RAVENSWOOD — Skylar Watson served up seven aces and Brooke Stewart posted a monster double-double here early Saturday afternoon to help Williamstown capture the Class A, Region IV championship match versus Wirt County — 25-13, 26-24, 9-25 and 25-20.

The defending state champion Tigers of head coach Janet Frazier also advanced to next week’s state tournament in Charleston, but like the Yellowjackets (46-10) the orange and black will wait to find out their quarterfinal opponent later today.

“Obviously, we knew it was going to be a tough game and we had to come out our strongest,” said the libero Watson, who had six of her seven aces in the opening set and that included three in a row to push a 16-10 lead to a nine-point advantage.

“Coming out and being on top it really set the tone in the game and helped our play. The second game we started to freak out a little bit, but we got our composure and we just knew we had to stay strong throughout the whole game and we did.”

Watson, who went to the line with a 1-0 lead in the opening set after Bethany Arnold registered a downed spike from a Courtney Dotson assist, served for six straight points. That included three aces. When asked about her serving performance she added, “I don’t know. I mean, it was good. But, you know, I couldn’t have kept serving without my team keeping the points.”

Kylie Stephens’ kill followed by a Mahala Greenleaf ace and two more service points gave Wirt County (35-13-1) an early 4-1 lead in the second set. A Nellie King kill via a Skyler Chancellor assist tied it at five, but the Tigers led 9-6 following one of Haley Moore’s match-high 20 kills and ‘Jacket head coach Rachelle Cole called timeout following consecutive unforced errors with her squad trailing, 13-9.

Setter Katie Frazier, who had a match-high 32 assists and also added a quartet of aces, got a kill to keep the lead at four, 17-13. However, Stewart started to dominate at the net and got her team back even. She finished with 18 kills and a match-high 15 blocks.

The Tigers led 23-20 before one of their nine service errors helped the ‘Jackets score three straight. Up 24-23 after Williamstown had one of its 10 service errors, the Tigers thought they had won set two and forced a best two-of-three scenario when Dotson attacked a ball the orange and black believed was on their side of the court. Following a brief delay, Dotson’s kill was taken off the board and a replay ensued. Williamstown, though, then watched the Tigers have another service error, which tied it. Stewart then had a stuff on Moore and Dotson got the final service tally for the 26-24 win after a Tiger attack error.

“We’re happy we’re going to state,” admitted an elated Stewart, whose junior campaign ended with a loss to Magnolia in last year’s state semifinals. “We’ll make the best of it while we are there. We’ve been waiting for this all year and working on one step at a time to get there.”

Williamstown had nothing going its way in set three as the Tiger defense didn’t even allow one Yellowjacket service point. Loden Campbell gave the Tigers the lead from the start at 1-0 when she blocked King. A pair of stuffs at the net by Stephens gave Tiger libero Emily Cottrell two service tallies and it was 12-6. Frazier later served eight straight points, including three aces, and she assisted on Campbell’s kill to end the set.

Things got really interesting in the fourth set. Trailing 4-2, Moore had a kill, but it appeared she might’ve nicked the net with a finger on her follow through. Initially, a replay was called due to confusion, but after coach Frazier continued to argue and coach Cole met with the up ref at midcourt, the kill stood following a delay of eight-plus minutes.

Another kill by Moore made it 7-5, but a service error sparked a huge Yellowjacket rally. Chancellor toed the line and served for seven straight tallies with the help of two kills apiece by Arnold and Stewart — one each from a BreeAnn Reynolds assist — as well as an Arnold/Stewart double block, which made it 13-7.

The Tigers closed to within three at 14-11 after two Taylor Anderson points and again at 17-14, but the ‘Jackets won going away and got match point on a service error.

“We have to focus on that level of play all the time,” said Cole, now in her sixth season at the helm of the ‘Jackets, who advanced to state for the third straight campaign.

“We’ll enjoy this one. We hope we don’t play (the) Tyler/Ritchie (regional in the quarterfinals). We just came out the first game and did what we were hoping for.”

PHS advances to state

ONA — First-year Parkersburg head coach Erin Thorpe’s Big Reds (37-14-4) won a thrilling five-set match in the Class AAA, Region IV semifinals versus host Cabell Midland on Saturday evening to reach the state tournament before being swept by Spring Valley.

Parkersburg South head coach Becky Bennett’s Patriots concluded their season at 12-29-1 after suffering a 25-14, 25-14 and 25-9 loss to Spring Valley.

In the setback, Cassie Fink and Makenna Winans had five kills apiece. Kassidy Spears finished with eight digs, Destiney Wells had two kills and four digs while Anna Ferguson had a quartet of digs and a trio of downed spikes. Sydni Harris collected 10 assists. Emma Leach chipped in five points, an ace and four digs.

Tyler tops Ritchie

KIDWELL — Tyler Consolidated handed Ritchie County a 25-21, 25-14 and 25-15 setback here Saturday night to capture the Class A, Region I championship. Both teams advanced to the state tournament.

The Silver Knights (43-14) received match-highs of 30 assists from Macy Long and 16 digs from Madison West. The Silver Knights were led by Abbie Fletcher’s 13 kills. Alexa Johnson, Joralda Rice and Josey Jones combined for 16 downed spikes.

Ritchie County (32-19-1) got 13 kills from Samantha Kirk and a dozen from Stephanie Kirk. Rebel Lauren Strickland pitched in nine kills and a match-high seven blocks while teammate Cassie Tallman collected 15 digs.

TCHS breezed past Madonna 25-4, 25-13 and 25-16 in the semifinal. Fletcher had 17 kills while West finished with 10 points and six aces.

During the Rebels’ 25-9, 25-8 and 25-1 demolishing of Bishop Donahue, Abi Haught served the first 22 points of the third set, which included nine aces. Ally Bishop had 30 assists in the win and 29 versus Tyler.

Doddridge, Gilmer fall

BAKER — Little Kanawha Conference programs Doddridge County and Gilmer County were ousted in the semifinals from the Class A, Region II tournament here Saturday.

Host East Hardy, which won the regional, swept the Bulldogs in one semifinal. The Titans won two of the first three sets (19-25, 25-16, 25-12) and had a 12-point cushion in the fourth set against Moorefield, but the Yellow Jackets rallied for a 25-23 set-four triumph and then eliminated Gilmer County in the fifth set, 15-10

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