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Wirt County sweeps East Hardy for state championship

By Jay W. Bennett 7 min read

CHARLESTON -- Wirt County increased its Mountain State record to 15 championships here Thursday morning inside the Vandalia Health Coliseum as the top-seeded Tigers swept No. 2 East Hardy 25-17, 25-12 and 25-12.

Sophomore Simone Hall led the way for the orange and black with a double-double that featured match-highs of 15 kills and 14 digs.

“She’s been battling a little bit of a knee and a shoulder injury at the same time, so she’s been out for about a month,” WCHS head coach Katie Frazier said of Hall, who had 15 kills in last year’s title match victory versus Gilmer County. “Just trying to get her back to her normal and the way she played in the finals last year, but she’s PT’d, she’s worked and she’s tried as hard as she can to get back to normal. Definitely a difference maker. Both of our outsides, but really all of the girls in total just as a collective. Really good group effort today.”

Freshman Sophie Romage also nearly posted a double-double after putting 10 attacks to the floor and chipping in nine digs on a day when the Tigers made just two serve-receive errors in 41 chances.

Junior Breigyn Dawson, who was the lone Tiger on the all-tournament team, finished with match-highs of four aces and 41 assists while adding half a dozen kills and five digs.

The orange and black also received 12 digs from sophomore libero Mya Hatcher while lone seniors Peyten McKown and Brook Mills produced solid stat lines. McKown had nine kills, an assist and 1.5 blocks while Mills had a dozen digs and a trio of kills.

“Our defense was really lights out, serve-receive and defense this morning,” added Frazier, who won her third title as a coach. “Mya does great back there as far as in the libero position and then anyone else who is back there we really stress strong serve-receive. Win the serve-receive battle and you win a lot of games.

“We lost four seniors last year. We lost a libero, an outside and a couple more defensive players so we were able to pick that up this year. The style of our game pretty much stays the same year in and year out. We do tweak things as far as certain players and what we have to offer, but overall just trying to play our game and stay the same.”

East Hardy, which had a 12-assist, 12-dig double-double from Xavia Barber while Madison Kerr registered 10 kills with Hannah Riggle posting seven assists, nine digs and a kill, never led in the opening set.

Hall’s first kill put the Tigers in front to stay and birthday girl Addi Williams made it 2-0 with an ace. Dawson proceeded to register a pair of aces as East Hardy (28-14) called timeout trailing 8-2. The Tigers (34-9-1) moved in front 13-5 on a Jasmine Williams ace and following three more downed spikes from Hall it was 16-7 as the Tigers rolled in the first set.

The Cougars led early in set two thanks in part to a pair of Kerr kills, but Romage delivered three downed spikes while Dawson and Mills had one apiece as the Tigers clawed back to tie it at seven. Dawson tallied 10 straight points from the service line as the orange and black took control.

Wirt County got its final three points of the set thanks to kills by McKown, Romage and Mills.

The final set had ties at 1-all and 2-all, but a Romage kill and then a Dawson ace was followed by a McKown downed spike as the Tigers jumped ahead 12-5 before the Cougars called timeout.

Coming out of the break, Lia Casenelli served up back-to-back aces to put the Tigers ahead by nine.

After Cate Wigal recorded her second ace of the match, the Cougars called their final timeout trailing 22-10 and Dawson assisted on Hall’s final kill for match point.

“It’s really a lot of trust in my team and a lot of trust that we all do what we need to do,” Mills said. “I really do love these girls and I know every single one of them wanted it as much as me, and as much as Peyten. Having that confidence in us as a whole just made the whole season go by really easier because sometimes it gets nerve-racking whenever you know like you’re the only one pushing for it, but that was not the case whatsoever. That just made the season great and they are great people.

“There was always pressure. When you walk into our gym the whole wall is covered in pictures so there is always pressure. People are always up to play us. I think it’s always kind of like you have to work a little extra harder. I don’t think it was anything new and our coaches always preach to stay level-headed. I think it’s just been in our heads so much that it doesn’t really bother us as much anymore.”

McKown said things worked out exactly as she had hoped.

“It honestly feels great,” she said. “It feels so surreal. I always had this dream for my senior year to be on this court and be under these lights. Just have this magical moment and we did. It took a lot of work. Almost seven days a week. Long hours in the gym. I mean it took everything in us to get us here and we did it. Back-to-back.

“Take it one day at a time, but it took a lot of work honestly. It took a lot of me and Brooklin stepping up because last year we had four seniors and so they didn’t have as much pressure. With just two it took a lot of us stepping up and taking charge and we did just that.”

Coach Frazier, who is now just a baker’s dozen crowns away from tying her mother Janet, never took anything for granted.

“We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do it this year,” admitted Frazier. “There’s some pretty steep competition in single-A, but we’ll definitely miss them.

“It’s been good to have them these last few years. Team effort, everybody involved, so really happy for Peyten and Brook to go out on a high note.”

Joining Dawson on the all-tournament team were Kerr, Barber, Gilmer County teammates Kaelyn Mullins and Ari While along with Ella Botts of Summit Christian Academy and Madonna teammates Sophie Brady and Madison Owens.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Class A Championship Match

at Vandalia Health Coliseum

Wirt County d. East Hardy 25-17, 25-12, 25-12

#2 East Hardy (28-14) stats: Xavia Barber 12 AST, 12 D; Georgia Hahn 4 D; Amelia Garrett 1 ace, 5 K, 6 D; Hannah Riggle 7 AST, 1 K, 9 D; Danica Wolfe 1 ace, 2 K, 4 D; Harper Kline 2 D; Madison Kerr 10 K, 1.5 B; Charlee Hahn 1 D; Jaylynn Combs 2 D; Madilyn Funk 2 K, 12 D

#1 Wirt County (34-9-1) stats: Simone Hall 1 AST, 15 K, 14 D; Brook Mills 3 K, 12 D; Cate Wigal 2 aces, 3 D; Peyten McKown 1 AST, 9 K, 1.5 B; Sophie Romage 10 K, 9 D, .5 B; Breigyn Dawson 4 aces, 41 AST, 6 K, 5 D; Addi Williams 1 ace, 4 K, 1 B, 2 D; Jasmine Williams 1 ace; Lia Casenelli 2 aces, 1 AST, 8 D; Mya Hatcher 1 AST, 12 D

All-tournament: Dawson, Barber, Kerr; Gilmer County: Kaelyn Mullins, Ari White; Madonna: Sophie Brady, Madison Owens; Summit Christian Academy: Ella Botts

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