Parkersburg South' freshman Jess Price manages to keep a ball alive during the Patriots' 3-0 setback to Warren on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG – Warren volleyball head coach Ann Skufca watched her squad win its 10th straight match here Wednesday evening to open the season as the Warriors swept Parkersburg South by scores of 25-10, 25-20 and 25-19 inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

Sydney Starcher registered a match-high 15 kills while Elayna Greenwalt had 14 downed spikes along with a trio of aces.

“We play (Thursday) at John Marshall. A long bus ride and another West Virginia school,” said coach Skufca, who received eight kills from Taylor Greenwalt along with 34 assists from Mya Stemple. “We’ll hopefully be able to have a good turn around. The main thing is with this team they continue to jell together on the court and that’s what teams that continue success do, and I could not be more proud of them.

“Every set is a chance to go ahead and continue to improve and that’s exactly what they were doing tonight along with jelling some more. It’s good to have Mya Stemple come in and take over Payge Cornell’s spot, who graduated last year. Big shoes to fill, but Mya has stepped right into those. She’s doing a phenomenal job.”

Shyanne Hays, who is the lone returning starter for PSHS head coach Emily Tracewell, registered a match-high five aces and also led the hosts with 10 kills. Teammate Payton Mackey, who missed last year due to shoulder surgery, chipped in five downed spikes.

Warren's Elayna Greenwalt tips the ball past an attempted double block by Parkersburg South during the Warriors' sweep on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I think they are definitely one of the best teams that we’ll play this season,” coach Tracewell said of the Warriors. “We always say that we are trying to figure out that one lineup that we are going to be using at the end of the season so we always make multiple changes throughout the beginning of the season to figure out what’s going to work best for us.

“I think we were able to see a lot of positive things tonight and see what we can work on. Once we started getting there, closing the block a little more in that third set, then our defense was able to do a little bit more and our offense was able to run, but just being quick on the court and having confidence in our teammates, and I think once we start doing that then it will start clicking for them a little bit more.”

A Mackey kill from one of Alaina Knapp’s 17 assists tied the opening set at one, but Warren tallied 11 of the next 13 points and never looked back.

Parkersburg South, which dropped to 2-4 and has a 10 a.m. triangular on Saturday back at the ROAC versus Linsly and Wheeling Park, jumped ahead 6-2 in set two. Hays had four of her kills in the spurt and Lexi Smith added one.

Following a Patriot service error, Warrior libero Remi Elzey toed the service line with her team trailing 7-5, but she served for six consecutive points and following her ace that made it 11-7 coach Tracewell called timeout.

Parkersburg South freshman Aubree Harner bumps the ball during the Patriots' 3-0 setback to Warren on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

A Mackey tip kill via an Aubree Harner assist as well as a pair of aces by Hays pushed the Patriots back in front at 12-11, but Elayna Greenwalt broke a 13-all tie with a downed spike and ended the set via another kill.

PSHS libero Natalie Lauer’s ace earned the opening point of set three, but Elayna Greenwalt had a run of five straight, which included back-to-back aces, as the visitors pushed ahead 7-2.

Coach Tracewell watched her team battle back from a 19-11 deficit. It was 23-19 following a block and a kill by Mackey, but Elayna Greenwalt finished the match with two more downed spikes.

Warren, which plays host on Tuesday to Waterford, has only had one team (Meigs) take a set from them in the early going.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Warren libero Remi Elzey serves up an ace in the second set of the Warriors' sweep of Parkersburg South on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg South's Shyanne Hays had a match-high five aces during the Patriots' 3-0 setback to Warren on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Warren's Sydney Starcher pushes the ball across the net during the Warriors' sweep of Parkersburg South on Wednesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)