Tyler volleyball falls to Central in regional co-final
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WHEELING -- There were no upsets on-tap Thursday night as the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights, seeded atop the WVSSAC Class AA Region I volleyball tournament, took down No. 4 Tyler Consolidated in a regional co-final to advance to next week's state tournament in Charleston.
The Maroon Knights swept their Silver Knight counterparts 25-14, 25-16, 25-14 to punch their ticket to the Charleston Coliseum, where the Class AA state tournament is to be held on Tuesday, Nov. 10 and Thursday, Nov. 12.
"We’re very excited," Wheeling Central head coach Grace White said after the win. "It was the goal to repeat as co-champion of regionals, head back down to Charleston, hopefully in a better seed than we were last year."
Central returns to the state tournament after falling in the state semifinals last year to Philip Barbour. The Maroon Knights were seeded sixth in last year's tournament and defeated No. 3 Charleston Catholic in the quarterfinals.
Wheeling Central led wire-to-wire in the first set, but Tyler came out firing in the second set, winning the first few volleys before Wheeling Central tied things 4-4. Wheeling Central's Jackie Maxwell put down a kill that gave Central its first lead of the second set, 7-6, and while the Maroon tried to pull away, the Silver stayed on their tails and trailed just 14-13 before an emphatic kill by Teagan Peters that sent Central on its way to a 25-16 second-set victory.
Tyler likewise got off to a good start in the third set, quickly going up 2-0, but Wheeling Central rattled off four straight points and ended the match with a comfortable cushion.
"The first set felt pretty much in our favor," White said. "I think we come out really hot from the jump most times. The second two sets were a little back-and-forth, and we just really emphasized games of 15, pushing it when you get into that 15 and following through."
Wheeling Central enters the state tournament with a 26-4 record. Tyler Consolidated's season comes to a close with a 19-17 record.
"We worked hard this week," Tyler head coach Chris Bachman said. "We put a game plan together, and we were trying to force a lot of out-of-system balls on that side. We thought if we could force a lot of out-of-system balls, it'd make our night a little bit easier.
"We did take their setter out quite a bit tonight and forced a bunch of out-of-system balls, but we just have too many dropped balls tonight, and we had too many missed serves tonight."