Williamstown volleyball advances to state final; Ritchie eliminated
Kamryn Haynes, left, and Riley Landis converge in the back row to make a pass during Williamstown’s sweep of Tolsia in Wednesday’s W.Va. Class A state quarterfinals in Charleston, W.Va. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Ritchie County’s Emily Griffin goes on the attack for Ritchie County in Wednesday’s Class A state quarterfinal sweep of James Monroe in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Kamryn Haynes, left, and Riley Landis converge in the back row to make a pass during Williamstown’s sweep of Tolsia in Wednesday’s W.Va. Class A state quarterfinals in Charleston, W.Va. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Ritchie County’s Emily Griffin goes on the attack for Ritchie County in Wednesday’s Class A state quarterfinal sweep of James Monroe in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
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CHARLESTON -- Class A defending state champion Williamstown will have a chance to repeat.
The top-seeded 37-7 Yellowjackets of head coach Rachelle Cole swept Tolsia (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) and then ousted No. 5 Moorefield (25-14, 25-19, 25-13) on Wednesday to advance to today's state final against Buffalo, which should start sometime after 1 p.m.
"At the end of the game tonight for us I told them, last thing I said to them, is you got your chance," said Cole, who will play the second-seeded Bison after they knocked off No. 3 Ritchie County by scores of 25-17, 21-25, 25-16 and 25-20 behind Chloe Hale's match-high 17 kills.
"The goal was to get back to the state title and they met their goal and now we just got to go play. Buffalo played a heck of a game. We're excited to have the opportunity."
Libero Kamryn Haynes served for the first three points in the opening set of the semifinals as the 'Jackets never trailed. Keatyn Haynes earned set point via a Payton Woodard downed spike.
Marissa Ward opened set two with an ace and three straight service tallies from McKenna Crites, including an ace, to keep MHS within two at 12-10.
Riley Landis later extended the lead with an ace to make it 18-12 as WHS rolled to the win.
Sterling Kump, who led Moorefield with nine kills, had two early in set three to help her team to a 4-3 lead. However, a Riah Sprouse block tied it and then Woodard served for six straight with the help of two Becca Shamblin kills for a 10-4 cushion.
Williamstown extended its advantage to 16-5 thanks to the help of a pair of Georgie Inman aces. Claire Strobl recorded one of her four kills to make it 21-9 and the Yellowjackets got match point when Kyndra Johnson assisted on Sprouse's kill.
Johnson finished with 22 assists and a trio of aces. Landis also had three aces. Woodard had a match-high 12 kills and Shamblin finished with eight. Strobl led the block party with a half dozen while Kamryn Haynes had 10 digs. Keatyn Haynes and Inman contributed nine digs apiece.
In the quarterfinals, Johnson had six aces and 26 assists. Inman (13) and Kamryn Haynes (12) each had double figure digs. Strobl supplied a match-high 18 downed spikes.
Ritchie County, which was the top seed a year ago but lost in the finals, blitzed James Monroe (25-20, 25-12, 25-8) in the quarterfinals.
Abby Nichols had 39 assists and Emily Griffin put down 25 kills. Rebekah Rupert added a baker's dozen downed spikes. Rebel Sydney Kopshina contributed six aces and as many kills.
In the semifinals, the 36-9 Rebels of head man Matt Carpenter couldn't contain Hale or fellow senior spiker Ivy Tolley, who had 11 kills. Head coach Barry Clendenin's squad also received eight kills from Hope Rinick, a match-high 34 assists from Zoey Hoffman along with a match-high 16 points from libero Nora Boggess in the 25-17, 21-25, 25-16 and 25-20 victory.
Hoffman's ace in the opening tied it up at 12, but she proceeded to serve eight more points as the Bison finished off the set with back-to-back aces from Makenlee Null.
Ritchie County fell behind 17-13 in set two, but a Rupert kill got the rally started. Kila Frymier served for four straight points, including an ace, and the Rebels went ahead 18-17 via a Maci Ireland block. Although it was even at 19, Laci Hilkey earned a service tally when Sydney Kopshina smashed one to the Charleston Coliseum floor to put the Rebels ahead for good. Hilkey followed with an ace an Ireland's kill made it a best-of-three affair.
Four straight points from libero Marissa Jeffrey helped the Rebels go ahead 11-7 in set three, but the Bison eventually squared it at 15 via a Tolley kill. Following a timeout, Tolley put two more down and the Bison never looked back.
Back-to-back Kopshina downed spikes helped the Rebels to a 14-12 cushion in set four, but it didn't last. Buffalo finally took the lead for good at 17-16 thanks to another Hale kill. She also got match point for Jocie Harris with another downed spike.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com