Gilmer County's Blair Dobbins (17) celebrates with sister Ava (18) and the rest of the Titans following their sweep of St. Marys on Wednesday night in the Class A state semifinals. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

CHARLESTON – Thursday afternoon’s Class A state championship match will be a showdown of Little Kanawha Conference programs as top-seeded Wirt County knocked off No. 4 East Hardy 24-26, 25-16, 25-23 and 25-14, while No. 2 Gilmer County survived a tough first set to oust sixth-seeded St. Marys 26-24, 25-16 and 25-17 on Wednesday night.

“It’s a pod dual. They are in our pod even,” quipped Titan head coach Chelsea Stickelman, whose squad lost 3-1 to the Tigers nearly two months ago in Elizabeth during their lone meeting. “This team is relentless. They want it. They want it bad and they are going to do whatever it takes.”

Following an ace by Morgan Bardwell, the Blue Devils led 20-13, but couldn’t close it out as the trio of Kenley Hartshorn, Ava Kennedy and Ava Dobbins took over at the net to close it to 21-20.

Despite pushing ahead 23-20 after Brenzie Ebert registered a kill from Rylee Renner off a Titan double block, Gilmer County cut it to 23-22 thanks to a Blair Dobbins/Kennedy double block.

However, Ebert put one more to the floor to make it 24-22, but Hartshorn answered right back thanks to a Maggie Snyder assist.

St. Marys head coach Stephanie Corathers talks with her team during a timeout at Wednesday night's Class A state semifinal in Charleston. The sixth-seeded Blue Devils eliminated Sherman before falling to Gilmer County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Although SMHS, which was making its second consecutive state tournament appearance after never advancing out of regionals, had a quartet of free ball opportunities to take the early momentum they couldn’t get one to go down.

A pair of unforced errors gave the Titans the lead and a Snyder quick set to Blair Dobbins gave the Titans all the momentum.

“I told them they took a nap in the middle of work and they woke back up and came back ready to play,” added coach Stickelman, whose 37-10-1 program got 27 assists from Snyder and 11 more by Paige Montogomery, while Ava Dobbins (13) and Hartshorn (12) led the way in the kills department. “We do that often. We dig ourselves a hole and then we have to fight to dig out of it, but this is the team to dig.”

St. Marys, which ended its campaign at 26-21-1, got a match-high 23 assists from Renner while Morgan Bardwell delivered 11 kills and two aces.

The Blue Devils were behind 8-7 in set two before the Titans took control with a 7-1 run. SMHS never led in set three as the final three points came with a Blair Dobbins ace, an Ava Dobbins mash and then an attack error on match point.

Gilmer County's Ava Dobbins (18) and Ava Kennedy (15) put up a double block as St. Marys' Brenzie Ebert tips the ball during the Titans Class A state tournament sweep on Wednesday night.(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I knew that we were going to have a good season just because we have a lot of talent, but we are a really young team,” said Blue Devil boss Stephanie Corathers. “I think we all were positive, me and my coaching staff, and all of our supporters. We believe it. They just have to believe it. I would say wins are the best, but if you lose you got to learn and I feel like we didn’t lose because they were better. We lost because we shut down.

“I don’t think we were looked at to win regionals after Brynnley (Bulluck) went down. I think that was huge and then I definitely don’t think we were supposed to come in and beat Sherman, and we did. I’m really, really proud of them. Each year I just keep pushing a little bit farther and we keep raising the bar. We’re losing one senior (libero Alyssa Winland) and it’s going to be big shoes to fill, but we’re going to be alright. I had four freshmen on the court tonight. What more can I say?”

After dropping the opening set, the Tigers had a 6-4 advantage, but were called for being out of rotation. Following a lengthy delay, the orange and black pushed in front 10-4 following back-to-back aces from Jasmine Williams and never looked back.

The 32-4-2 Tigers, who got 30 kills from Addie Stephens, 14 downed spikes by Simone Hall, 47 assists from Breigyn Dawson along with double figure dig total thanks to Mya Hatcher (19) and Makayla Moore (12), had it nip-and-tuck in the pivotal third set.

Leading 23-22, Stephens rocketed a shot, but the ball hit the net and rolled nearly all the way across before falling over before going out of play for a kill. The senior then had a crosscourt smash for the key 2-1 advantage.

St. Marys junior Brynnley Bulluck talks with her teammates between sets during Wednesday night's Class A state semifinal setback to Gilmer County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“That’s the first out of alignment we’ve had in about a month, but no better time than now,” admitted coach Frazier, who will try and guide the Tigers to a 14th all-time state crown. “They pulled themselves out of it. If anything, I think for some reason, it was a good break in play and switch it up a little bit after that and get going.

“Glad we could use it as a little momentum break for ourselves. East Hardy is a very, very good team. We’re just very fortunate to be able to get that against them. The first set was a little tight and we were able to pull away a little more in the sets after that. They are a very good team. Just kind of decided we wanted to play a little bit toward the end and got into a rhythm and got into a groove a little bit.”

The only time Gilmer County played for a state championship was in 2003 when the Titans topped Williamstown for the Class A crown. Current assistant coach Denae Dobbins graduated in the spring of 2003 as the Titans were bounced in the state semifinals back in 2002.

“I told them we have to take care of our side of the court,” stressed coach Stickelman of the keys for the final match of the season. “If we take care of our side of the court and we play our volleyball then it will be fine. We just have to play our side and leave everything on the court. Leave nothing as a regret.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com