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PHS netters split senior night tri

Big Reds beat Cabell Midland, fall to Winfield

Photo by Jay W. Bennett Parkersburg libero Hannah Adkins, pictured here serving the ball against Cabell Midland on Tuesday in a tri at Memorial Fieldhouse, celebrated senior night before the match with fellow classmates Shay-Lee Kirby, Hannah Hewitt and Grace West.

PARKERSBURG — Although host Parkersburg High School didn’t sweep its volleyball triangular here Tuesday on senior night inside Memorial Fieldhouse, the Big Reds managed a split thanks to defeating Cabell Midland 25-23 in straight sets before falling to Winfield 25-18 and 25-22.

Middle hitter Grace West, one of four Big Red seniors who were honored prior to the start, was allowed to serve twice — once in each match — despite wearing a walking boot and being out for the season with a leg injury.

West was joined in a ceremony by fellow classmates Shay-Lee Kirby, Hannah Hewitt and Hannah Adkins.

“I’m proud of them,” said Big Red head coach Erin Thorpe, whose club will carry a 22-18-8 record into Saturday’s Mountain State Athletic Conference tournament in St. Albans. “We lost our setter (Maggie Sauers) last Tuesday and she’s out for the season. Now, I’m down two starters. Winfield is amazing. They are really good and that’s why I wanted them up here.

“One win against Cabell Midland, we hadn’t beaten them all season. Beating them was awesome. We are doing the right things at the right times. We just need to make sure we can carry that over to multiple games. We just have trouble getting game to game, but I’m really proud of them for beating Cabell. That was a big one for us.”

The Generals (39-8-1) of first-year head coach Todd Higginbotham got match point versus the Big Reds thanks to a Jaedyn Ball kill with Esten Clay toeing the service line.

“We played well,” admitted Higginbotham, who received match-highs of nine kills from Emily Reed, a dozen assists by Kendall Hill and two aces from Mya Williams versus the hosts.

“We needed that going into the rest of the season. It’s good for us to come up here and get a win. Hopefully, we can use this to push us forward getting ready for the state tournament, sectionals and regionals.”

In the final set versus WHS, the Big Reds closed to within 17-16 after a kill by Anna Umpleby. Later, Khylan Plants served for four straight points as a double block by Mary Strobl and Shelby Roberts on General Hollie Cunningham tied it at 18. A downed spike from Hewitt soon followed and PHS appeared to have the momentum at 20-18, but was unable to force a winner-take-all third set. Kirby paced the Big Red hitting attack with six kills, Adkins had eight digs while Kristen Lowers finished with 11 assists.

Cabell Midland, which defeated Winfield in the middle match by scores of 25-21 and 25-15, was its own worst enemy in the opening set against PHS as the Knights of head coach Julie Brumfield had five service errors. That included one on the first set point.

With the duo of Roberts and Kirby dominating at the net early in set two versus CMHS, that allowed Lowers to string together six straight service tallies, which included an ace, to give the hosts an early 7-1 bulge.

A downed spike by Strobl later made it 14-9 and PHS went up 16-10 and 17-11 after Kirby put a pair to the floor. However, Ryleigh Bledsoe had consecutive kills while libero Gabbi Carter was serving to regain some momentum.

After a Madison Riggio tally, the Knights eventually tied the set at 19-all thanks to a Caroline Kinder kill. PHS, though, got kills by Hewitt and Kirby along with an ace by Hewitt to forge ahead 23-19 and force a timeout from CMHS. Gracie Brumfield responded with a kill and it was 23-21 after Gracie Hightower blocked Kirby with Clara Lewis serving. Kirby then had a downed spike to get to match point, but the Knights were able to stave off two attempts thanks to kills by Kinder and Riggio. However, an attack by Kirby went unreturned on the third match point.

Following the MSAC tournament on Saturday, the Big Reds will enter sectional play next Wednesday at Parkersburg South.

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