Parkersburg South's Payten Mackey goes up for the kill on match point as the Patriots rallied past host Parkersburg by scores of 30-28, 14-25, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-11 on Monday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse to kick off rivalry week. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG – The start of rivalry week for Parkersburg South and Parkersburg got underway Monday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse as the visiting Patriots somehow managed to rally past the Big Reds 30-28, 14-25, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-11.

Despite facing a 6-2 deficit in the winner-take-all fifth set, which forced PSHS head coach Emily Tracewell to call a timeout, and soon after falling behind 8-2, the Patriots stormed back and finished things off when Aubree Harner assisted Payten Mackey for a kill on match point.

Following a Mackey downed spike that made it 9-5, Harner served for a trio of her five aces to help push the Patriots ahead 11-9, but a service error followed.

Big Red Ava Sayre then produced a kill as it appeared things were even at 11, but her attack was then ruled out. Lexie Smith’s kill setup match point at 14-10.

“We had two freshmen out there a lot,” said PHS head coach Tammy Fisher, who received match-highs of 24 kills from Kennedy Porter and six aces from libero Brenan Harvey. “Calista (Mace) went down and we had to put in a freshman. I’m not upset at all. They fought to the end. That was the fourth game and she said she couldn’t go back. I had to put in a freshman, which Kelina (Utietiang) did a fantastic job.

Parkersburg libero Brenan Harvey (black jersey) celebrates with teammates following one of her five aces at the start of set two as the Big Reds scored the first 15 points versus rival Parkersburg South on Monday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse. However, the Patriots went back across the Little Kanawha River with a 3-2 dual match triumph. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“KP was hitting it. Brenan was killing it. Ava was serving it. Ella (Collins) was serving it. I mean I just can’t talk enough about my seniors and what they did. We’re very young and people don’t realize that. I’m disappointed. I mean who’s not disappointed. They fought hard and with Calista going down that hurt us.”

The Big Reds, who dropped to 4-9 and welcome in Tyler Consolidated on Thursday, finally broke a 15-all tie in set four and took the lead for good thanks to a Porter/Sayre double block on Izzy Wilson.

PHS had five set points in the opener, but were victimized by eight service errors as the final one tied things at 28. Patriot libero Natalie Lauer proceeded to serve for consecutive aces as she joined Harner with a team-high five.

“Our biggest struggle is just playing competitively the whole time even when things get tough,” admitted coach Tracewell, whose team climbed back above the .500 mark at 6-5 with John Marshall set to invade tonight. “I think finally tonight we were able to show ourselves that if we are doing the things we need to do and everybody is doing their job then we are able to get it done.

“Usually that’s where we struggle. We have all the pieces. We have the technique. We have the talent, but it’s just working together and knowing that they are good enough to win the game.”

Parkersburg South libero Natalie Lauer served up consecutive aces to break a 28-all tie en route to earning the opening set point during Monday's 30-28, 14-25, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-11 victory versus rival Parkersburg inside Memorial Fieldhouse.  (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg South was unable to get anything going in set two as Harvey served PHS to a 15-0 bulge with the help of five aces.

The Big Reds had the same issue in set three as coach Fisher called timeout following a Smith ace, which made it 6-2. Shy Hays, who had a team-high 10 kills, pushed the lead to 11-4 after one of her three aces and it was 19-9 following another ace from Lauer.

Porter and Sayre dominated at the net early in set four as PSHS trailed 6-3. However, the Patriots used strong play at the net from Mackey, Smith and Jess Price to push ahead 13-9, but Harvey strung together seven straight to turn the tide.

Mackey and Price followed Hays in the Patriots’ hitting attack with nine downed spikes apiece.

When asked what keyed the rally after a slow start to set five coach Tracewell admitted “I think it was actually we just talked about how if they want to win this game they’d better start now and Payten Mackey, our senior, said ‘hey guys, why don’t we play for each other’ so that was a good idea and everybody started playing for each other. It wasn’t just individuals out there playing. They really started to mesh as a team.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com.