Parkersburg South’s Jess Price (25) celebrates following a point against Huntington on Wednesday in Huntington. (Photo by Ryan Fischer/Herald-Dispatch)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg South senior duo of Shyanne Hays and Payten Mackey knew they were going to need a little help from their friends if they wanted to end the season at the Class AAAA state volleyball tournament.

Thanks to Wednesday night’s regional triumph at Huntington, the Patriots of head coach Emily Tracewell improved to 18-16-1 and earned the No. 7 seed.

Now, PSHS has to square off at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday versus second-seeded Morgantown. The last time the Patriots reached Charleston was back in 2023 when they lost in the triple-A quarterfinals to the top-seeded and eventual champion Mohigans.

“I watched their game against John Marshall so we have an idea of how they can play and we also played John Marshall really competitively and almost took a set from them,” said coach Tracewell

“I think it’s just looking at the big picture about playing how we can play on our side and not really worrying about what the name of the team is on the other side, and doing our job and seeing what we can get done.”

Mackey, who missed her junior year with an injury, wasn’t sure she’d get back into the lineup after starting the season healthy.

“I’m not going to lie. I was pretty nervous. I hadn’t touched a volleyball in about six weeks,” admitted Mackey of her regional championship match return. “I didn’t expect to start or anything. I didn’t even really expect to play and then as soon as the game started she said ‘hey, as soon as Ashley (Cross) gets to the front row you are going to go in and play middle’ and I was like ‘alright. Here we go.’

“I haven’t touched a volleyball in six weeks so I was pretty nervous, but as soon as I stepped on the court my teammates were right there backing me up and they calmed my nerves. It wasn’t too bad. That’s what I kept telling myself. I’m like ‘I’ve done this before and I’m OK. I can do it.'”

Hays, who noted her sophomore year was a good experience, was more than amped to have Mackey back in the fold.

“The last word we heard was she was out for the season,” Hays said. “We didn’t know if she was going to get to play. It was nice for her to be out on the court again. I always love playing with my best friend, but I just have to give a shoutout to the other girls who stepped up throughout the rest of the season.

“It took everybody, even Payten being there supporting us, but it literally took even the bench. Like there were so many kids who came in, filled in, stepped up wherever they were needed and nobody said a word about it. They just went out there and did their job and that’s what we needed.”

Tracewell, a former all-state standout at Wirt County, thought the Patriots had what it would take to make a run at the state tournament, but doing so was anything but easy.

“I always tell them at the beginning of the season it’s going to take awhile to figure out what works best and how we mesh together, so it’s going to be a different lineup a lot of the times because we want to get everybody an opportunity to see what they can do before we decide exactly who should be on the court,” said the coach. “I think that by the end of the season it’s usually the right people out there. As long as they are working together then we can see what they can do.

“I felt so excited for them because they never played to their best potential, which I think they could’ve played even better last night, but they were just getting the job done because they knew that they could do it and they knew that they deserved to be the one to make it out because I don’t think we were seeded the best, but I told them regardless of where we are seeded we have to be the best team to get there anyway. I think they really decided it was their turn to have an accomplishment and see where they could go from there.”

Hays also admitted the journey was taxing at times, but the payout was worth it.

“It really has. Mentally and physically we’ve faced a lot of injury and just being worn out as a team mentally,” Hays said. “We faced some pretty tough teams and we faced a lot of teams we should’ve beat, but didn’t.

“We didn’t really know where we were and then within the past couple of weeks we found our groove, found our strengths and definitely working on our weaknesses everyday in practice. It’s definitely been a challenge. It’s nice to see the hard work pay off right now, but we’re not done.”

Although Mackey wasn’t sure she’d be afforded the opportunity to play again this season, once she got out on the court it was like riding a bicycle.

“I was just a little worried because they learned how to play without me and they had been playing without me, and they had been doing really well,” admitted Mackey. “They learned how to play without me. I don’t even know how many games and then it was like they just threw me in there. I was a little worried, but obviously we’ve played together before. I wasn’t too concerned about us jelling. After a couple of points it was like nothing ever happened.

“I’m so incredibly excited and honestly so thankful, especially after last year not being able to play at all and then coming back this year and being able to go a lot further than people expected us to. I’m really excited and I hope we make it a lot further than we did my sophomore year. It’s just honestly a blessing to be able to go back there, especially for my last year.”

Mackey suffered a torn labrum in her right shoulder following her sophomore year of volleyball and thought the injury bug was behind her.

“This year I started off strong, started off with a bang and on senior night actually I came down on one of my blocker’s foot and came down with a high ankle sprain that put me in a boot,” she said. “I finally got the feeling back in my foot.

“It’s really difficult, especially being a senior and not being able to play last year. It was kind of hard to show up a little bit and watch practices and watch games, but I knew I had to be there for my team. I’m so grateful to be back because nobody expected me to be back. I didn’t even expect me to be back.”

Suffice it to say that Hays and the rest of the Patriots are sure glad she had a triumphant return.

“For me, I know how good we are and I know we can compete with the better teams. Getting the lower seed in the region just kind of made us feel like the underdog and I think we handled that very well,” Hays added. “We came out there on our ‘A’ game versus Riverside and GW, and we were unstoppable. I think that night we could’ve played just about anybody in the state and put them up for a good game. That’s just how we have to play every game from here on out.

“Definitely being the underdog, I think we used it to our advantage and came out with some confidence. Only eight teams get to go from our class so it’s definitely a privilege, a blessing to go down there with my best friend. I love this team more than anything and this being my senior year I just want to go out there and make the best of it, and I know my teammates want that for me, too. Overall, I mean I just want to be with my team, go out there and play how we know how to play, have fun and end on a good note. I want to go down giving 110%. I don’t want to go down just because we give up or anything like that like we have before in the season.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Inside the numbers

KILLS

Shyanne Hays 478

Jess Price 226

Lexie Smith 139

BLOCKS

Shyanne Hays 95

Izzy Wilson 42

Lexie Smith 35

ACES

Aubree Harner 72

Shyanne Hays 69

Natalie Lauer 54

ASSISTS

Aubree Harner 416

Alaina Knapp 224

Natalie Lauer 68

DIGS

Natalie Lauer 507

Shyanne Hays 317

Lexie Smith 223