The Wirt County volleyball team celebrates after defeating Gilmer County for the Class A state championship Thursday in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

CHARLESTON — Wirt County’s senior quartet wanted to go out as Class A state champions and that’s exactly what transpired here Thursday as the Tigers used a pass from Katherine Lemley to setter Breigyn Dawson as Addie Stephens hammered home match point to give the orange and black their 14th overall state crown after handing Gilmer County a 25-19, 23-25, 25-12 and 25-10 defeat.

“Wirt County, we wanted it. We wanted it bad,” said Tiger senior Bella Starcher. “It was obvious and we sealed the deal tonight, and we got what we wanted, and we didn’t let up. After losing a set we just kept going and I’m proud of this team beyond measures.”

After never trailing in the opening set, the second seeded Titans (37-11-1) of head coach Chelsea Stickelman jumped ahead 14-7 behind dominating play at the net by Ava Dobbins and Ava Kennedy. Tiger head coach Katie Frazier called timeout after falling behind by seven as the top seed passed a free ball out of play.

The Tigers closed it to 24-23 when senior libero Makayla Moore earned a service point thanks to a Dawson kill via a Brook Mills assist.

However, on set point Dobbins had a diving dig and then finished it off at the net with a block.

Wirt County's Mya Hatcher makes a pass during the Tigers' 3-1 victory on Thursday afternoon versus Gilmer County in the Class A state championship match. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Lemley put the Tigers ahead to stay in set three when she opened things with an ace. Thanks to four of Stephens’ match-high 25 kills along with two more downed spikes by Dawson, the Titans were in an 11-5 hole.

A kill by Peyten McKown pushed it to 13-6 and then Dawson and Izzy Speece had a block on Dobbins to make it 15-7. Stephens closed out the set with a trio of aces to forge a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five match.

A key point in the set came with the Titans trailing 10-5. During a rally that took two-plus minutes, Gilmer County lost the point on the Dawson kill.

“I knew one day we would,” Lemley replied when asked about finally getting a state crown.

“I’m really proud of my team and I’m just glad we pulled through and got that last point.”

Gilmer County's Kaelyn Mullins executes a jump serve during the Titans 3-1 setback to Wirt County during Thursday's Class A state championship match. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

A Kaelyn Mullins kill thanks to a Maggie Snyder assist gave the Titans their only advantage in set four at 1-0.

Wirt County’s Simone Hall, whose mother Teena (Bennett) Hall was on the Tigers’ initial state championship team under current assistant coach Janet Frazier back in 2000 when they were in Class AA/A, tied things up with one of her 15 kills.

After that, Lemley had a pair of aces as the Tigers roared to a 13-4 lead following a Jasmine Williams ace and never looked back.

“It’s pretty amazing. I really hoped we could get this one,” admitted Moore, who finished with 14 digs while teammate Mya Hatcher registered a match-high 27 digs.

“I have gone three years without being in the state championship so this one was really special to share with my other senior teammates.”

Members of the Wirt County volleyball team looking on during Thursday's Class A state championship match victory versus Gilmer County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Stephens, who tallied a match-high six aces in her final appearance, was just glad to go out in style.

“It was an awesome experience. My teammates just had my back, always,” Stephens said. “We have amazing teammates, amazing coaches. Everything just comes out perfect and it was just an amazing feeling.”

Stephens was joined on the all-tournament team by Dawson and McKown. Dobbins, who had a team-high 13 kills, was joined by twin sister Blair Dobbins (seven kills) and libero Emeri Hickman. East Hardy’s Madison Kerr and Morganne Miller also made all-tournament.

“It just takes everybody. We talked about it in the second set,” said Katie Frazier. “I mean we pushed. We were down by like 10 or something, pretty significant, and came within two, 25-23, so just trying to carry that momentum into the next set and the rest of the match.

“This was going to be the first group to come through that hadn’t won a championship since 2000 so they really, really wanted it this year. Did a lot of work out of season, especially toward the latter part of the season. It’s just a really great group and a good way to end.”

Wirt County, which finished 33-4-2, completed the Triple Crown by also winning the Little Kanawha Conference and Region IV crowns.

Despite coming up short in the season’s final match, Stickelman was proud of what her squad accomplished.

“It was a tough way to end, but this team went through the gauntlet getting to the stage,” she said. “They played 49 games on the season and came out with 37 wins. Those wins consisted of all classes. This team had that special mojo when they were on. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for us in the last two sets. The seniors set the expectation for the rest of the team to continue working hard to get back to this stage again. It was a great season, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls to coach.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com