Wirt County's Simone Hall goes up for one of her four kills during the top-seeded Tigers' sweep of Man on Tuesday in the Class A, Region IV tournament in Elizabeth. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

ELIZABETH — Top-seeded Wirt County received match-highs of 26 kills from Addie Stephens, 31 assists by Breigyn Dawson and eight aces from Katherine Lemley here Tuesday night as the Tigers roared past No. 8 Man – 25-8, 25-3, 25-7 – in the Class A, Region IV, double-elimination tournament.

The Tigers of head coach Katie Frazier, who improved to 28-4-2, now will play host at 6 p.m. Thursday to No. 4 Tug Valley, which knocked off fifth-seeded Wahama on Tuesday in Williamson.

Man (3-26) advanced to play the orange and black after head coach Orlando Washington’s program handed No. 9 Van a 15-25, 25-22, 25-15 and 25-21 setback.

“I’ve seen them and I figured they were kind of what they are similarly known for, but all in all it’s different for my girls to see what a team like that can play like, and try to understand some of those things, so that was good for them,” coach Washington said of facing the Tigers while adding of the Bulldogs “we had beaten them before so I expected to beat them.

“What I did not expect is we took the two minute quicker way and that single lane road was quite unexpected. What I liked is a couple of my girls got better timing and got a couple blocks and I like to see their excitement. I like it when the kids feel good about themselves.”

Wirt County's Addie Stephens (10) beats teammate Izzy Speece (9) to the ball as she registered one of her match-high 26 kills in the Tigers' sweep of Man in Tuesday's Class A, Region IV tournament in Elizabeth. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Wirt County, which received four kills from Simone Hall and a trio apiece from Izzy Speece and Peyten McKown, overcame five service errors in the opening set.

“Five missed serves on the first set is not great, but they settled in. Maybe we need to practice that a little more tomorrow,” admitted Tiger head coach Katie Frazier, whose team last played a week ago Saturday and won the Little Kanawha Conference championship.

When asked about the time off the orange and black boss added “we just like to have the practice time.

“Shore things up before we come into postseason play. I think we came out a little rusty tonight from the week off.”

Lemley opened the match with an ace and the Hillbillies only trailed 2-1 after Kierra Jemerison put one down via a Mackenzie Maynard assist.

Wirt County setter Breigyn Dawson, who had five aces and a match-high 31 assists, executes a jump serve during the Tigers' sweep of Man at Tuesday's Class A, Region IV tournament in Elizabeth. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The Tigers pushed ahead 13-5 after back-to-back aces from libero Makayla Moore as the hosts finally got going and never let up.

Wirt County jumped ahead 13-2 in set two thanks to the hitting of Stephens along with a combined five aces from Dawson and Lemley. A Jemerison solo block of Stephens made it 13-3, but the Tigers scored the next dozen points with Jasmine Williams, who had four of her five aces in the spurt, toeing the service line.

The Hillbillies, who return to action on Monday versus Thursday’s winner of Van and Wahama at the higher seed, couldn’t get anything going in set three.

Lemley served up the first 11 points before another Kemerison kill got Man on the board. Williams’ final ace made it 16-2 before Irelyn Mullins sent a ball with her back to the net that hit the top and flopped over for a point.

Man collected three more points on a pair of Tiger service errors along with an attack error, but coach Washington’s squad still trailed 19-7 after Layla Hoosier’s solo block on Hall.

Van's Khia Sutphin serves the ball during Tuesday's Class A, Region IV tournament opener versus Man at Wirt County High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Three straight aces by Lemley pushed the advantage to 24-7 as Stephens recorded her final downed spike on match point.

“We used to play them at the Buffalo tournament back when I was in high school so it’s been several years,” coach Frazier said of going up against the Hillbillies.

As far as moving forward, the coach added “I think the biggest thing is just everybody just staying healthy and just staying a team unit.

“I mean everyday coming in focused no matter what’s going on. Practice our game, so number one just staying focused and staying together as a team.”

Jemerison led the way for the Hillbillies against Van as she finished with match-highs of seven aces and 10 kills. Mullins delivered a trio of aces as many kills and eight assists while Maynard had the same stat line. Hoosier chipped in three aces and had a trio of downed spikes. Man also was aided by Emilee Deel’s quartet of aces and six kills. Trinity Compton added two kills and an ace.

Man's Trinity Compton makes a pass while teammate Kierra Jemerison looks on during Tuesday's Class A, Region IV tournament opener versus Van at Wirt County High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Van was led by Khia Sutphin’s eight kills along with Layla Albright’s three aces and four assists. Laciee O’Dell contributed an ace, two assists and three kills for the Bulldogs, who also got a pair of assists and two kills from Kaydance Hunter.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com