Williamstown takes Ritchie down in four sets
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WILLIAMSTOWN -- The second meeting of the season for Little Kanawha Conference North Division rivals Ritchie County and Williamstown went to the host Yellowjackets here Thursday evening as head coach Rachelle Cole's squad improved to 17-2 following a 25-22, 25-18, 26-28 and 26-24 triumph against the Rebels.
Earlier this season the Rebels of head man Matt Carpenter, who will carry a 12-2 mark into Saturday's 10 a.m. quad at Philip Barbour with Magnolia and University, were swept by WHS.
A year ago, the Rebels finished as the Class A state runner-up to the Yellowjackets, who were led by Riah Sprouse's double-double of 15 kills and 10 blocks.
Senior Rebel Rebekah Rupert, the two-time reigning LKC Player of the Year, still isn't cleared for front row duties for RCHS, which also got Maci Ireland (seven kills) back in the fold for the first time Thursday after injury.
The Rebels are also currently without hitter Sydney Kopshina.
"I was proud of how my girls fought all night against a realty good Williamstown team," admitted coach Carpenter, who received a match-high 19 kills from Emily Griffin and Jayci Gray while Andrea Davis added a quartet of downed spikes and Abby Nichols a match-high 43 assists. "I felt after dropping the first two sets and able to win the third we really had their backs to the wall and missed some opportunities down the stretch in that fourth set.
"Give it to Williamstown. They made a good comeback in the fourth. The season is still early. We are going to do nothing but get better the rest of the season. It was a hard fought game all night. I'm sure neither team will be strangers by the time the postseason rolls around."
WHS libero Kamryn Haynes, who had 15 digs and four aces, served one of those up for set point in the opener. A Sprouse block on Gray finished off set two with Georgie Inman at the service line as WHS was looking for a sweep.
In set three, the Rebels pushed ahead 11-9 with Kila Frymier serving after Gray blocked Becca Shamblin, who was playing through an ankle injury. The 'Jackets had a 24-23 lead and match point, but a Griffin killed turned the tide. Rebel libero Marissa Jeffrey served the visitors ahead 26-25 following another Griffin kill, but she was then blocked by Woodard and Claire Strobl, who led WHS with 16 kills and added nine blocks, to make it 26-all. Ritchie County was able to tally the final two points via kills from Davis and Gray as the last downed spike gave Laci Hilkey set point.
Ritchie County appeared to be in control in set four after an ace by Baylee Butta made it 13-6. However, Sprouse went to work with a trio of kills and Shamblin added another to keep it close. WHS still trailed 18-11 following a Gray ace, but the hosts started a rally with Kyndra Johnson serving. Coach Cole's program finally took their first lead in the set at 22-21 when Inman made a pass that Woodard put down for one of her 11 kills via a Keatyn Haynes assist. Although the Rebels tied it at 24, a service error and a Woodard service point ended the match.
"It's been a weird week with Becca getting hurt on Tuesday," said coach Cole, whose team is getting the day off before competing Saturday at Huntington's Spikefest. "We practiced an entirely different lineup yesterday and we were unsure the majority of the day if she was going to play or if she wasn't going to play.
"I think it just kind of got into some of our heads. We didn't play very smooth. We were uptight half the game. We never really got that much of a flow going. We probably should've pulled Becca after set two. She was struggling with the ankle injury, but she's tough and she wanted to say in. That was definitely an intense match."
Johnson finished with 38 assists and 10 digs, Keatyn Haynes had 18 digs and fellow teammate Riley Landis had nine digs and one ace.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com