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South finishes runner-up in MSAC volleyball championships

Cabell Midland claims championship

By Jay W. Bennett 6 min read

PARKERSBURG – Top-seeded Parkersburg South grabbed a 25-18 championship opening set win versus second-seeded Cabell Midland here Saturday inside Memorial Fieldhouse, but the Knights of head coach Emily Gaskins stormed back to win their third straight Mountain State Athletic Conference title after taking the next two sets 25-17 and 15-8.

The Patriots of head coach Emily Tracewell, who will await the 6 p.m. Wednesday winner of Parkersburg and Riverside with a trip to the Class AAAA state tournament on the line at Rod Oldham Athletic Center in the regional, were led in the finals by Presley Allen's two aces and match-high seven kills.

Allen, along with Olivia Conaway and Jess Price, who had six kills alongside teammate Izzy Wilson, put on a blocking exhibition in the first set, but the Knights weren't going to be denied.

"It was a lot of fun. It was very exciting," admitted Cabell Midland's Katie Lawson, who was joined with a half dozen kills by Lyla Johnson while Lucy Johnson and Maddie Cooks had a quartet of kills apiece with libero Payton Bowyer and Brooklyn Chapman registering a pair of aces each.

"It was so amazing and I'm so glad that for my senior year we all got to come back and win again and show that we do have a chance at states, and we're to be taken seriously. I'm glad my team got to experience it for all the new girls that came in. I'm so excited."

Allen had both of her aces in a 5-0 spurt to start the finals as the Knights called timeout trailing 7-1 after Quinn Bolyard, who had eight assists, registered one of her four downed spikes and Price followed with a kill.

The Patriots had the Knights doubled up at 16-8, which forced another timeout, thanks in part to two kills by Wison and a pair of Allen stuffs. PSHS then led 18-8 when an Allen/Conaway double block went all the way to the end of the court and hit CM's back line.

Although the Knights pushed and were able to close to within five at 23-18, a bump set by South libero Natalie Lauer led to an Allen kill and the Patriots got set point via a Lexi Smith ace.

Brynn Ward, who had a match-high 16 assists, served up an ace to open set two and Lawson followed with a kill as the Knights never trailed.

Parkersburg South cut it to 11-7 after an Allen solo block of Lyla Johnson, but she answered with a kill via a Brooklynn Chapman assist and then Bowyer executed a bump set that led to a 13-7 advantage when Cassidy Kiripoisy put one to the floor.

The Patriots never got any closer than 14-10 after a pair of Aubree Harner service points.

Both teams had free ball opportunities to get the first point in set three, but Chloe Anderson got the first kill as the Knights then went up 3-1 via a Lawson block and kill.

Bowyer's ace made it 6-1 and the closest the Patriots could get the rest of the way was at 10-6 and 11-7 via Allen kills.

Lawson had back-to-back downed spikes to set up match point, which was earned when Kaylee Adkins made a pass to Ward and Cooks finished off the three-peat with a kill.

"We sat for four hours," Gaskins admitted. "We ended pool play at 2 o'clock and did not start tournament play until almost 6. I am so unbelievably proud. We've been looking forward to playing Park South. We hadn't seen them all year. We heard they were tough and they are. They have lived up to the hype and they are a tough team. Man, we could not get a ball down on them that first set. They are so scrappy and they put up a huge block. They really made our hitters work. I'm really proud of my bench.

"We ran a completely different rotation and that helped in the second and third sets. I know my girls were exhausted. They've been playing all day and it's been a long day, but Park South, too. They've been playing all day. I definitely look forward to playing them again. That was some good volleyball. Probably a little bit too close for comfort. My heart is still racing, but that was great volleyball. I'm so proud of my bench because they came in and picked it up when I needed them."'

Parkersburg South reached the finals by ousting fifth-seeded Huntington 25-22, 23-25 and 15-8, while the Knights knocked out the third-seeded Big Reds by scores of 25-19 and 25-18.

"I think that the girls have played the best volleyball today that we've played all season, which is the perfect timing because this is when we need to be playing great volleyball," Tracewell said. "We also had one of our setters (Peyton Gossett) get hurt earlier this week so we had to do a completely different lineup for the last few days.

"Our girls were able to adapt and be able to play good together and I think they really showed up today, and should be proud of themselves with the work that they did, especially coming out of that first set against Cabell Midland. We were playing some great volleyball and I don't think they were playing bad. It was good for us to be able to see that we can do it no matter who it is."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Mountain State Athletic Conference

At Parkersburg's Memorial Fieldhouse

Championship

#2 Cabell Midland d. #1 Parkersburg South 18-25, 25-17, 15-8

Cabell Midland stats: Payton Bowyer 8 pts, 2 aces, 1 AST; Jaycee Bowen 1 pt, 1 AST; Cassidy Kiripoisy 1 K; Katie Lawson 6 K; Lyla Johnson 3 pts, 6 K; Maddie Cooks 4 K; Lucy Johnson 4 K; Brynn Ward 12 pts, 1 ace, 16 AST, 1 K; Kaylee Adkins 3 pts, 1 ace; Chloe Anderson 3 K; Brooklyn Chapman 6 pts, 2 aces, 3 AST

Parkersburg South stats: Presley Allen 6 pts, 2 aces, 7 K; Quinn Bolyard 4 pts, 8 AST, 4 K; Aubree Harner 7 pts, 8 AST; Lexi Smith 2 pts, 1 ace; Natalie Lauer 6 pts, 1 ace, 2 AST; Jess Price 6 K; Izzy Wilson 6 K

Semifinals

#1 Parkersburg South d. #5 Huntington 25-22, 23-25, 15-8

#2 Cabell Midland d. #3 Parkersburg 25-19, 25-18

Parkersburg stats: Grace Inboden 2 pts, 2 aces, 3 AST; Bella Bowman 7 pts, 1 ace; Calista Mace 2 pts, 1 ace, 1 K; Olive Nahley 3 pts, ace; Liddy Wilfong 13 AST; Chloe Gribble 5 K; Jillian Farley 3 K; Ily Bowman 7 K

Cabell Midland stats: Lu. Johnson 4 pts, 1 ace, 1 K; Ly. Johnson 9 pts, 2 aces, 6 K; Adkins 4 pts, 1 ace; Bowyer 4 pts, 2 AST; Bowen 2 pts, 1 ace, 1 AST; Ward 3 pts, 19 AST, 1 K; Lawson 4 K; Cooks 6 K; Anderson 5 K

Quarterfinals

#1 Parkersburg South d. #9 Woodrow Wilson 25-11, 20-25, 15-8

#2 Cabell Midland d. #7 George Washington 25-14, 25-12

#3 Parkersburg d. #6 Spring Valley 25-20, 10-25, 15-7

#5 Huntington d. #4 Hurricane 25-8, 22-25, 15-8

Other Tournament Matches

#9 Woodrow Wilson d. #8 St. Albans 25-23, 25-15

#5 Huntington d. #12 South Charleston 25-12, 25-9

#7 George Washington d. #10 Riverside 25-16, 25-11

#6 Spring Valley d. #11 Capital N/A

NOTE: Cabell Midland three-peated as MSAC champions.

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