Cabell Midland's Carley Brewster and Hedgesville's Gracie Brown battle at the net during Saturday's championship match of the Spookfest tournament held inside Parkersburg's Memorial Fieldhouse. The Eagles knocked off the Knights by scores of 25-21, 22-25 and 15-10. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — The finals of Saturday’s Spookfest tournament held inside Memorial Fieldhouse featured a showdown between top-ranked Hedgesville and No. 3 Cabell Midland, but the Class AAAA defending state champion Eagles managed to outlast the Knights 25-21, 22-25 and 15-10.

The host Big Reds, who were the seven seed following pool play, eliminated No. 10 Wheeling Park 25-14 and 25-18 before getting bounced in the quarterfinals by the Knights – 25-23 and 25-16.

James Monroe, which is ranked fifth by the coaches in the Class AA poll, managed to survive last year’s double-A state champion and current fourth-ranked Philip Barbour by scores of 27-25, 21-25 and 19-17, but fell 25-18 and 25-20 to Cabell Midland in the semifinals.

No. 5 University took care of No. 4 Parkersburg South 25-20 and 25-22 only to have its day come to a close at the hands of the Eagles in the semifinals – 25-17, 23-25 and 15-6.

Last year’s Class AAA runner-up Herbert Hoover took care of No. 9 Greenbrier East 16-25, 25-21 and 25-7 before the No. 8 seed lost a tough 25-18, 16-25 and 15-12 match to Hedgesville in the quarters.

Parkersburg's Calista Mace (6) and Kennedy Porter (18) go up for a double block during Saturday's Spookfest tournament versus Wheeling Park inside Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We have a large group of seniors, like 10 seniors, so they just kind of went into today like ‘hey this is our last tournament. This is our last one on a Saturday. Let’s go out, have fun and play for each other.’ I think that’s what they did,” said Hedgesville head coach Allison Whitford, a former all-state standout at Tyler Consolidated.

“We love playing volleyball. We went to set three a couple different times today. We just like it. We do the same gameplan every single time we step on the court. Right now we’re just trying to get healthy. My right side was here with an injury and then one of our girls is sick at home with strep. One of our key contributors, too. We’re just trying to make everybody healthy.”

Eagle libero Alexa Smith had a finals match-high four aces while Parker Sutherland, Gracie Brown and Emmeri Bishop registered eight kills apiece.

Cabell Midland freshman Lyla Johnson put down a finals match-high 10 kills while Carley Brewster led the way with 24 assists. Elder sister Lucy Johnson had six downed spikes while Madison Mount and Madelyn Cooke had a quartet apiece.

“Thrilled to be here. We love coming to Parkersburg,” admitted CM head coach Emily Gaskins. “We’ve been looking forward to this tournament all year, specifically because we wanted to see Hedgesville. This is our first time playing. They’ve gone back and forth between number one and number two in the state and we’ve settled at number three. We’ve watched film and we know that they are talented. We’ve seen that, but we knew they were beatable.

Parkersburg South's Ashley Cross makes a pass as teammates Lexi Smith and libero Natalie Lauer look on during Saturday's Spookfest tournament at Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I would’ve loved to have that match, for sure, but I’m looking forward to seeing them at states. Overall I’m happy with their performance. I’m super proud of Lyla Johnson. She’s a freshman outside. She stepped up in a big way today. I’m super proud of her. The future is bright. Definitely exciting. Again, mostly good, and I’m happy with their performance. We definitely could’ve made some improvements I think. We know what we need to work on now.”

Consecutive aces by Ady Seymour gave the Eagles an early 7-6 cushion in the opening set of the final, but the Knights pushed ahead 12-9 following a Lucy Johnson block of Bishop.

Despite having it tied at 20-all thanks to a Cooke kill, a Knight attack error gave the Eagles the lead for good and Sutherland’s kill via one of Gillian Sykes’ 11 assists closed out the set.

Brynn Ward’s dig that went across the net and dropped put the Knights ahead 8-4 in set two. Following a kill by Brewster, Ward served up an ace for a 10-4 edge as coach Whitford called timeout.

Hedgesville closed it to 11-10 thanks to a double block by Sutherland and Savannah Parker, which led to a timeout from coach Gaskins. Consecutive aces from Smith put the defending state champs up 13-11, but a Jaycee Bowen ace later tied it at 15.

University's Braylee Sparks (15) celebrates with teammates following a point during Saturday's Spookfest tournament at Parkersburg's Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Squared at 20, libero Jillian Yost served for two straight points to give the Knights the lead for good as a service error by the Eagles forced the decisive third set.

Katie Lawson’s solo block of Sutherland had set three even at three and it was still even at five following a Mount kill, but a service error followed to give the Eagles the lead for good.

A kill by Bishop and then an ace from Smith made it 9-6. Hedgesville earned its final two points on a pair of attack errors.

Parkersburg head coach Tammy Fisher’s squad trailed the Knights 7-0 in the first set, but rallied behind the serving of libero Brenan Harvey. The Big Reds trimmed the deficit to 18-15 following a kill by Calista Mace and the hosts eventually tied it at 22 following a Kennedy Porter ace and an Ava Sayre downed spike.

Although it was again tied at 23, Lucy Johnson got point 24 on a kill and a PHS attack error ended the set.

Hedgesville head coach Allison Whitford talks to her team during a timeout at Saturday's Spookfest tournament inside Parkersburg's Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PHS led early at 4-2 in set two after a kill by Chloe Gribble and it was 9-6 Big Reds thanks to an ace by Kelina Utietiang. However, back-to-back aces by Ward evened things at nine and the Knights went ahead for good after earning the next point on an in the net call.

Lawson’s ace got the Knights to match point, which she earned via a Lucy Johnson kill.

“Those runs. They have a hard time stopping those runs, but there were a couple times where I had three freshmen out there on the court,” admitted coach Fisher, whose squad is still going through roster changes. “I can not complain at all. They’ve done really well. They are getting better and better and better, and that’s what it’s all about. Cabell is a good team. They are coached well and they can hit. They are very good.

“People don’t realize how young we are. I’m not upset. When we were doing our lineups I said ‘how many have we had this year because of injuries or people not finishing out the season’ so I can’t complain for us to be where we are at with all the stuff that’s happened. We don’t like to lose, but they are practice games really. The schedule we’ve had has been one of the toughest ones. I’m proud of them. Just keep swimming.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com