Williamstown Yellowjackets too much for Crusaderettes
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WILLIAMSTOWN -- Junior setter Kyndra Johnson went for match-highs of five aces and 17 assists, while senior middle hitter Claire Strobl delivered a match-high 11 kills here Thursday evening for two-time defending Class A state champion Williamstown as the Yellowjackets swept Parkersburg Catholic 25-11, 25-17 and 25-9 in their home opener.
Parkersburg Catholic transfer Akhia Miller, who had six downed spikes for the 'Jackets of head coach Rachelle Cole, joined WHS libero Keatyn Haynes with a quartet of aces. Williamstown, which improved to 2-0-4 with a 6 p.m. home tri up next on Tuesday against Fort Frye and two-time defending Class AA state champion Philip Barbour, had four pool play ties on Saturday at Sissonville's tournament before winning Tuesday at Magnolia.
"That second set we kind of just played pretty unclean for a while," admitted Cole, who received 10 digs from Becca Shamblin, eight from Haynes, a quartet from Riley Landis and a trio by Lauren Deem."Once we got out of system we couldn't get back in system, but they talked about it after set two and I think they came back ready to go set three.
"Even the four (pool play ties), we played really well at times that day. We ran a couple different lineups. We still don't have anything set in stone. We have a lot of girls that can play a lot of different positions. We have some depth on the bench, which is nice."
The hosts took the lead for good on the opening point of the first set when Strobl blocked Meg Roedersheimer, who had six points, an ace, two kills and two digs for the 0-2 Crusaderettes. Johnson later served up four straight points, including an ace, as PCHS head coach Amanda Weatherwax called timeout down 7-1.
The visitors scored three straight to make it 7-4 thanks to kills by Annie Tokodi-Ruth and Morgan Sampson as well as an ace by Roedersheimer. PCHS was still within four at 9-5 when Tokodi-Ruth put down another of her team-high seven downed spikes via one of Izzy DeAngelo's dozen assists, but couldn't get any closer. An ace by Johnson and then a PCHS attack error ended the set.
Crusaderette libero Jocelynn Thorn's ace tied set two at three apiece and the visitors took their first lead of the match on a Roedersheimer kill. Tokodi-Ruth had back-to-back downed spikes during a three-point run with Roedersheimer at the service line as the 'Jackets fell behind 8-6. PCHS, which received a dozen digs from Thorn, still led 10-9 when Tokodi-Ruth blocked Kyndra Dalrymple, but WHS took the lead for good at 12-11 thanks to a Strobl/Johnson double block.
Trailing just 17-16, PCHS watched Miller get a tip for a kill and then Dalrymple put one to the floor following a bad serve-receive as Williamstown scored eight of the final nine points to take control in the best-of-five match.
Strobl opened set three with consecutive kills, which was followed by three more Johnson aces, one by Landis, three from Miller and two more by Haynes as PCHS couldn't get anything going.
"We're pretty sophomore and freshman heavy this year and a lot of them are having to step up into a starting position," admitted coach Weatherwax, whose team returns to action 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Belpre. "They are gaining experience every game that we play, which is great.
"They played some of the best volleyball I've seen them play so far in the second set. I know it's early in the season, but we gave them a pretty good game, and it's against a good team. Nothing to be ashamed of there. We got a lot of good takeaways from tonight and we're just ready to build on that the rest of the year."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com