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Proud and Determined: Parkersburg South enters state volleyball as a five seed

PARKERSBURG – Third time’s the charm.

Patience is a virtue.

Good things come to those who wait.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

“We’re tired of losing in the first round. We’re ready to play and ready to win,” said fourth-year Parkersburg South head volleyball coach Emily Tracewell, whose fifth-seeded Patriots (30-11-2) will clash with No. 4 seed Cabell Midland (42-7-2) at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday inside the Charleston Coliseum in the Class AAAA state quarterfinals.

This marks the third time in four seasons the Patriots have qualified to the big dance.

A year ago, PSHS took the first set versus Morgantown, but fell 3-1 as the Mohigans went on to win the championship.

Although the Patriots didn’t make the field in 2024, Tracewell’s gang qualified in the final year of the former three class system in 2023, but suffered a quarterfinal sweep at the hands of the eventual state champion Mohigans.

“That’s what I was hoping for,” Tracewell said of facing the Knights in what will be a rematch of the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship. “I think the girls can play more confidently knowing that we took a set from them instead of the usual matchup with us and Morgantown, even though I think that game would’ve been competitive.

“I think it’s just having the big name on Morgantown’s team and then always making it there it’s kind of harder to play in that environment. I’m super proud of them. We’ve just been talking about how this team has grown so much over this season and just that they are able to do anything that if they are working hard they are able to beat anybody at the state tournament. I hope that we have instilled that confidence in them because I’m confident that if they play their best we can win a few games.”

Parkersburg South is led by senior libero Natalie Lauer, who surpassed 1,000 career digs earlier this season.

“It’s just been such a good experience all four years. We’ve just had such a good run, except for my sophomore year, but every other year we went to states,” said Lauer, who along with recording 89 assists has amassed 96 aces while serving at 97%. “This year has just been so fun being a senior and seeing everyone improve, and just like me myself improving.

“It’s just been so fun. It’s so exciting and our goal, always, at the beginning of the season is to make it to the state tournament and win the state tournament, so I think achieving our first goal and going to see if we can get the next one is just so exciting. I can’t wait to go.”

Lauer has a pair of senior teammates in full rotation player Lexi Smith and Addi Moon, who missed the season due to injury.

While Tracewell has a plethora of pieces who have contributed heavily throughout the campaign, sophomore Jess Price leads the Patriots with 489 kills that features a .382 hitting efficiency.

Price’s classmate Aubree Harner enters state with 648 assists and 54 aces.

“Just focusing on taking care of ourselves and being ready to show up and play,” Tracewell said of the keys this week. “We know that we work the best when we have good serve-receive and our offense can actually work. I think that if we’re able to do that it should be good for us.”

Smith said everything is a full go for her health-wise entering state.

“I played for about a month I would say and it was pretty solid. We had a pretty good record and then I got hurt. It wasn’t bad. It was just a pulled quad,” said Smith, who came to South after her freshman year at Wirt County.

“It’s a muscle you use a lot so I had to take some time out. I was out for two games and then I only played front row for a couple games. That was a little sad for me.”

Smith enters her final state tournament with 71 aces, 62 blocks, 314 digs and 164 downed spikes with a .297 hitting efficiency.

“It’s so exciting. I was really glad to make it back to states this year,” Smith said. “Last year we had a bunch of dropped flies. All the juniors quit, so we only had me, Addi and Natalie. I feel really bad for Addi not being able to play this season because of her hip. Me and Natalie are pretty close.

“We’ve been best friends ever since I moved here. I really like being a part of this team. Ever since I transferred here I’ve felt so welcomed and I’m very glad to make it back. This whole team is so close, like we’re all best friends, and I think that really helps with our connection on the court.”

Lauer agreed with her senior teammate about the camaraderie.

“I think on the court we’re all just very close,” added the libero. “Like we’re all best friends out there and even off the court, too, we’re all really close friends. I think that helps with our team dynamic a lot, and just being so close and even hanging out outside of practice. Lexi, she’s my best friend. Just playing on the court with her and being with her for my senior year has been such a fun time.”

What would be even more fun is finding a way to make a run at the state championship.

No matter how things play out this week, Lauer knows she’s been blessed.

“I’m just glad that they came in my freshman year,” Lauer said. “Them coming in my freshman year and just building a relationship with them and me growing as a player has been such an achievement to me. It’s so exciting to be with them all four years and achieving our goal three out of four years.”

Obviously, Tracewell is going to miss her seniors and is hoping for the best.

“They’re amazing volleyball players and also amazing people,” said the coach. “It’s been so great to have them on our roster for all these years now. We’re really going to miss them and they just show up every day ready to work.

“They know the expectations that we have for them and they are making sure everybody is on the same page. It’s been great just to be able to see them be rewarded for the hard work they put in.”

Smith stressed she’s ready to leave it all on the floor.

“I think that we just need to have a lot of energy because we played them in the MSAC championship and we took the first set from them,” noted the Patriot. “We had a lot of energy. We were just all playing consistently and that’s our biggest thing.

“We just need to play consistently and not have any little drops where we lose confidence. We just need to have a lot of confidence the whole time, keep our energy up and I think that we can beat them.”

Even though Parkersburg South fell 2-1 in the MSAC title tilt, all the matches in the state tournament are a best-of-five format.

“I think it really helps our confidence knowing that we already beat them in a set at MSACs and just knowing that we can do it,” Lauer said. “We already have it in our head that we can do it because we’ve already did it once. We just need to come and beat them in three instead of one.

“We need to have great serving. We need to have perfect passing so that our hitters can put the ball down the first thing, so the other team doesn’t get a chance to put the ball down on us. Our defense needs to be perfect and our hitting and blocking needs to be there.”

Following Parkersburg South’s quarterfinal, top-seeded Musselman will clash with No. 8 Woodrow Wilson.

The afternoon quarterfinal matches in 4A get underway at 1:30 p.m. with No. 2 Martinsburg squaring off with No. 7 Huntington, while third-seeded Morgantown faces sixth-seeded Spring Mills.

If the Patriots are victorious, they’ll play in the state semifinals at 6:30 p.m. with the championship match set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday.