Parkersburg’s Kennedy Porter (18) celebrates after a point during the Big Reds’ four-set victory over Hurricane Wednesday at Memorial Fieldhouse. With the win, PHS claimed a state tournament berth. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG — Diving into the scorer’s table. Running down loose balls into the bleachers. Keeping rallies in play on shots bouncing through the rafters.

That was the mentality of the Parkersburg volleyball team. The Big Reds were not going to be denied during Wednesday’s Class AAAA South Regional co-final against Hurricane.

Despite dropping the first set, the Big Reds never deviated from that mentality and secured a trip to the state tournament for the first time in three years after defeating the Redskins 23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-17 at Memorial Fieldhouse.

“Getting to state means everything with this team,” said Kennedy Porter, one of three senior tri-captains who were members of the PHS teams which advanced to state in 2022. “My freshman year, I think we took it for granted we would get back. We had a great team. We’ve been close every year, but we just never got back.

“Tonight, we pushed ourselves to the absolute hardest. We pushed to the absolute last breath we had. After we lost the first set, I told my team we were never going to give them a set again. And we didn’t.”

Parkersburg’s Ava Sayre (8) bumps the ball during Wednesday’s regional match against Hurricane. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PHS had defeated Hurricane two of the previous three meetings this season, including once in the regional. A fourth meeting evolved when the Redskins swept Buckhannon-Upshur 25-18, 25-23, 25-15.

PHS (21-18-4) joins Parkersburg South in the state tournament field.

“Getting to state has been a goal of mine, obviously – I just love it,” PHS tri-captain Brenan Harvey said. “It’s just amazing.”

In the first match against Buckhannon-Upshur, in Set 2 Hurricane fell behind 12-3 and trailed 23-20 before the frontline of Hayden Grimmett, Madelyn Alford and Francesca Beckman combined for four kills over a five-point stretch.

“Honestly, in the second set we could have just folded and said it’s been a good season,” Hurricane coach Dustin Walls said. “But they didn’t do that. They said they wanted to win in three. They wanted to make the state tournament.

Parkersburg’s Chloe Gribble (7) and Ava Sayre (8) go up for a block during Wednesday’s regional match against Hurricane. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“They fought and fought and fought. I had some kids that absolutely gave me everything they had.”

Despite building a five-point lead late, nothing came easy for Hurricane in the opening set against PHS. Ava Sayre, who was recognized for recording her 1,000th career assist after the set, registered two kills as the Big Reds evened the set at 23.

After a Madelynn Alford kill put Hurricane back in front 24-23, the rafters played a dirty trick on set point as PHS’ return attempt ricocheted off the ceiling. The Redskins were two sets from returning to state after a year hiatus.

“The girls weren’t going to let this one go,” said PHS coach Tammy Fisher, who has now taken three different schools to the state tournament. “You can’t take anything away from Hurricane because they went down swinging and they did a fantastic job. Their coach does a fantastic job with them.”

Chloe Gribble did a brunt of the damage at the net as PHS built a 9-3 lead in the second set. Hurricane managed to force ties at 15 and 16, but Porter stepped up in the clutch with two solo blocks as part of the Big Reds’ 7-3 run which left the match all square at one set apiece.

Parkersburg’s Ava Sayre (8) eclipsed the 1,000-assist mark for her career during regional play Wednesday at Memorial Fieldhouse. She celebrated with teammates Brenan Harvey (22) and Kennedy Porter (18). (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

The Redskins were resilient in the third set and opened a 7-4 lead before Porter’s presence up top with two kills and a block gave PHS the lead for good at 11-7.

The gap reached as many as nine points before Hurricane closed within 21-17 on a kill by sophomore middle hitter Kiley Jones.

With the deficit at 23-17, a scary moment took place as Sayre crashed into the scorer’s table, both headfirst and suffering a small cut on her knee trying to keep a ball in play. Earlier in the sequence, a shot from the Hurricane side of the net took a hard bounce off the top of Sayre’s head.

After being attended by the athletic trainer, Sayre returned to the service line to close out the third set 25-17.

“Getting to state has been a goal since I was a freshman and I wasn’t able to play,” Sayre said. “This has been a dream of ours. I was a little skeptical after we lost the first set, but we got ourselves where we should be.”

Parkersburg head coach Tammy Fisher looks on during Wednesday’s regional match against Hurricane. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Three kills from Porter plus one apiece from Calista Mace and Gribble gave PHS a 7-3 lead as set four opened. Hurricane could never create any momentum despite staying on the heels of the Big Reds down 19-16.

As soon as PHS reached point 21, coach Fisher began the countdown with her fingers – indicating how many points remained before clinching a trip to state.

“Parkersburg is a great team,” coach Walls said. “When you get overconfident and take your foot off the gas a little and the other team just lost the first set on their home floor in a regional, you know they are going to bring the best they got.

“When you have a middle hitter diving into the bleachers to save a ball, that’s impressive. Or diving into the scorer’s table. Two of their senior leaders are diving into objects to make sure they aren’t done yet. It’s nice to see, but I hate to see it because it’s against us.”

Hurricane ends the season at 24-25-2, but graduates just two seniors.

Parkersburg’s Kennedy Porter (18) spikes the ball over Hurricane’s Francesca Beckman (4) during Wednesday’s regional match. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“We lacked a little bit of that aggressive quality,” Walls added. “Parkersburg is playing in front of their home crowd, their bench is very hyped and it makes a huge difference when you are in a fight with those type of kids.

“I got to tip my hat. She coached a great game and stayed with them the entire time, especially after losing that first set. I’m not OK with losing, but if I’m going to lose to a team that play that well together and earned it, I don’t feel like we just lost the whole thing.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com