Parkersburg South first-year head coach Emily Tracewell, right, talks strategy with Hanna Vaught during a match earlier this season against Warren at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — A year after finishing runner-up to Musselman in the Class AAA state championship match, Morgantown head volleyball coach Erica Manor’s club has been pegged as the team to beat.

The 34-4-1 Mohigans, who bring a balanced 6-2 attack to Charleston, will clash with upstart Parkersburg South first-year boss Emily Tracewell’s Patriots (21-17-1) following the 8:30 a.m. Wednesday first state quarterfinal between No. 4 Bridgeport (39-7-7) and No. 5 Woodrow Wilson (40-8-9).

No. 2 Hedgesville (25-12-3) faces seventh-seeded Hurricane (33-14-1) to open the 1:30 p.m. quarterfinal session with No. 3 Musselman (33-14-2) and No. 6 George Washington (34-12-5) to follow 30 minutes later.

Aside from the Patriots, first-year Hurricane head man Dustin Walls’ program is the only other new entrant in the field. The Redskins defeated PSHS for the sectional title, but lost the regional.

Bridgeport had the five seed in 2022 and ousted the No. 4 Flying Eagles in five sets. The Mohigans went through Hedgesville en route to the final.

Parkersburg South’s Reagan Parsons sets the ball during Saturday’s regional tournament inside Parkersburg’s Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg South is 0-2 against Morgantown this fall, but defeated Hedgesville to open the year. The Eagles were just beaten by Bridgeport three days before Halloween.

“That (state) has been the goal from the very first day we walked into the gym and saw the players and what they could do,” admitted coach Tracewell, whose team features the senior trio of masher Maia Johnson, setter Reagan Parsons and defensive specialist Jaslynn Dixon. “That was the goal that we set for them.

“I think that obviously learning the skills and working together as a team has come throughout the season, but the thing that we struggled with was being confident since they haven’t made it to this point in the past seasons. I think now we are finally seeing the confidence at the right time.”

Parkersburg South survived its sectional as the third seed by knocking off rival Parkersburg in the must-win semifinals. The regional semifinal victory versus Cabell Midland featured a comeback from 19-10 down in set three to capture a five set thriller, which put the Patriots in the field for the first time in 11 seasons.

“Stakes were definitely high and you could feel the tension in everyone,” Parsons admitted of the regional semi.

“We all just stayed calm and played like we know how to play and we played good. We know when we play good we can be a better team and have the possibility of winning.

“I mean it’s been a bumpy road. We haven’t had the best past few seasons. We started out my freshman year with probably six or seven seniors and we’re down to three. A lot of girls either got hurt or decided they didn’t want to play so I’m glad I got to play and finish the season with Maia and Jaslynn, and I have a good friendship with both of them.”

Dixon, who had an ace for set point to complete the big rally, is just glad things worked out.

“Just excited and ready to go. We are going to hit practice hard,” she said. “It’s definitely tiring, but I feel that we have the energy and effort to push through no matter what. We just need to bring the energy and bring the effort like we know we can.

“With every coach there is a different experience, but I think with this coaching staff it’s just a different experience. I really do enjoy it.”

Johnson registered 15 kills in the regional final and put down 28 in the semi. She’s joined at the net by juniors Hanna Vaught and Sydney McKee along with sophomores Shyanne Hays and Payten Mackey. Brylee Hatcher, who will return next year, is the South libero.

“We definitely put in a bunch of hard work,” expressed Johnson while sitting on the Memorial Fieldhouse floor to take a rest following the team picture. “The coaches and everyone cheering for us probably really helped us a whole bunch. It’s been a ride. I’ve been with Reagan since sixth grade and Jaslynn since freshman year, but me and Reagan have known each other forever.

“It’s been amazing to be with her for this long. It’s definitely been a ride. We’ve definitely come together and we’re a very good group of girls. We are very coachable and I’m very proud of us and how far we’ve come.”

Tracewell, who spent the past four seasons as head coach at Fort Frye and was an Ohrn during her all-state playing days at Wirt County, cherishes the relationship with her brother/assistant Brady.

“This is our fifth year of coaching together,” she said. “We work really well together because we always see different things we need to work on. We talk about it every single day. We go home and say ‘what do you want to work at in practice and what do I think we need to work on in practice’ and we talk about it, make a plan and I think that’s why it works the best.

“We both have the knowledge of the skills and he’s researching all the teams. I’m thinking about what we can do differently with our team and we’re just a good team. I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else.”

Whatever the recipe, it’s definitely working.

“Here, the mindset was different,” Tracewell said of being a first-year head coach for the second time. “Like they were excited that they got new coaches, but they didn’t have the drive and the discipline that they have now.

“We really focused on being disciplined and telling them how great they are and that was what we struggled with throughout the season. Now I think that part is finally clicking.”

Although the current task at hand of saddling Morgantown with its first loss to a Mountain State team this year appears daunting, the message to her team following Saturday’s championship run was simple.

“The message is I told them I don’t care what we are seeded and I don’t care who we are playing. They need to be focused and ready and know that they are playing at their level,” Tracewell said.

“The seniors are super good leaders and we love the dedication and the drive that they bring to the team, and really just staying positive on the court the whole time.”