Moorefield survived a five-set thriller against the Lady Cougars claiming the Class A Region II Volleyball Championship thrice in program history and for first time as a host this past Saturday: 25-16,18-25, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-10.
In the previous two regional championships won by the Lady Yellow Jackets in 2003 and 2014, East Hardy similarly pushed them to the brink going five sets.
“Wow. For the first game we were a little sluggish and the second game we still didn’t come around with it. There was a lot of emotion flying back and forth. Both teams played with a lot of emotion and the crowd was excited. It makes it exciting that in the region game it is both Moorefield and East Hardy. We were all going out there representing our area very nicely. When you go to a game five, it only goes to 15, so it goes by super fast. You have to minimize on errors and it is like who will it come down to in the match. You look at these seniors playing their last time on their home court, they won regionals and sectionals here. There’s not much a better way to send them out and now we make the trip down to Charleston. We wait to see who we are playing, prepare for them and see if we can make some noise,” Moorefield Volleyball coach Morgan Hill See remarked.
Both teams punched their tickets to the state tournament in Charleston this Friday with Moorefield earning the fourth seed facing fifth seed Ritchie County at 8:30 am., while East Hardy was given the seventh seed and will battle second seed Parkersburg Catholic at 1:30 p.m.
Moorefield (31-8) won all four meetings this season against the Lady Cougars, but this was the closest match as East Hardy (17-19-1) made improvements throughout the course of the year and refused to[private] back down.
The Lady Yellow Jackets started the fifth set from the service line as senior Lindsey Rinker sent the ball across the net, then East Hardy junior Erin Riggle launched an attack and it was met on a dig by junior Alyson Simmons.
Moorefield junior Remington Hinkle sent a volley across and it was redirected into the net for the first point, then Riggle evened the set with a kill.
East Hardy senior Rebecca Whetzel served and the ball was sent back by the Lady Yellow Jackets junior Gracie O’Neill, then Riggle’s attack was blocked by O’Neill and fell on Moorefield’s side of the net and wasn’t corralled.
Moorefield seniors went to work as Sydney Hardy made a dig, Rinker created a set and Madison McGregor slammed the ball to tie the set.
Hinkle made a kill during McGregor’s serve time, then the next serve was returned into the net.
Riggle garnered two kills to tie the set at four apiece.
Lady Cougars sophomore Victoria Ames served and there was no return and the ensuing serve was an ace building a 6-4 lead.
Simmons blocked an attack by Riggle and it was saved by East Hardy junior SierraMarie Miller and senior Jaden Fleshman launched an attack which was met with a dig by McGregor.
Simmons collected a set from Rinker and sent a volley across with a return into the net.
O’Neill served and Ames notched a dig, then an attack by Riggle came back into the net.
Miller had an attack saved on a dig by McGregor, then Hinkle’s attack was sent back out of play, 7-6.
The Lady Yellow Jackets tied the set as Rinker made a quick shifting push over the net landing for a point.
Simmons notched two kills with one deflecting off a block to give Moorefield a 9-7 lead.
The momentum continued as the Lady Cougars had a volley sail awry, then Rinker made a dig and Hardy garnered a spike.
Hinkle delivered an ace to create a 12-7 advantage for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
Miller blocked an attack by Hardy, then an attack by East Hardy went out of bounds during a serve by senior Emily Yates.
McGregor’s attack was blocked by Miller, then a serve by Fleshman was collected by Kaleigh Hunt and Rinker attempted to send it over as momentum carried her under the net, 13-10.
The final two volleys for the Lady Cougars were swallowed by the net as Moorefield claimed the Region II championship title, 15-10.
In the opening set, Moorefield took a 4-1 lead as Hinkle and O’Neill garnered kills plus points came off errors.
East Hardy gained the next two points on a block by Riggle against Hardy and Yates landed a spike, 4-3.
An attack by Hardy was met on a dig save by Perry Whetzel, but the next volley went into the net, then Hinkle served two aces, 7-3.
After a Moorefield service error, Yates served and Simmons made a save by the bench.
Moorefield’s Simmons and Hardy made attacks, but East Hardy answered with attacks by Yates and Riggle before Miller was able to block a volley for the Lady Cougars.
A block by Simmons was returned into the net and followed by an ace from Simmons for a 9-5 score.
Riggle and Miller notched kills and a couple errors enabled the Lady Cougars to tie the set.
East Hardy took a brief lead on a serve by Fleshman which was saved by Rinker and not returned, then a volley by the Lady Cougars hit the net.
Hardy garnered a service point for the Lady Yellow Jackets, then there was a battle at the net with saves made by McGregor, Simmons, Miller, Dyer and Hardy to keep play alive before an attack by O’Neill was returned by Riggle with a push for a kill, 11-all.
The set would be tied three more times with the last coming at 16 apiece with Moorefield taking advantage.
The Lady Yellow Jackets took the lead for good starting at 17-16 on a kill by Hardy, then two serves by Hinkle were returned out of bounds.
McGregor made a spike, then Miller launched attacks which were met with digs by McGregor and Simmons and a saving volley by Hinkle was redirected by East Hardy back to the net.
Hinkle served an ace and McGregor notched a point off a block to put Moorefield up 23-16.
Hardy garnered a point with a kill and the set point came on a serve by Hinkle with the ball ricocheting to the ceiling as it deflected across the net, 25-16.
“I think this means so much to us, because we’ve been every other year. We really wanted to make our last year our best year,” Moorefield senior Sydney Hardy remarked. “It was crazy. My heart was pounding out there. We had to play ball. They’ve gotten better and they forced us to play tonight.”
“It’s exciting to win on your home floor and to be going to state, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Moorefield senior Madison McGregor commented. You are very nervous and you just have to go out there and put those nerves to the side and do what you know how to do. We had to do what we have practiced all year long.”
The Lady Cougars took early control of the second set scoring ten consecutive points for a 10-1 advantage.
Riggle tied the set at one point apiece with a kill, then Yates had an attack returned out of play.
Miller and Yates notched points off attacks for East Hardy with returns into the net.
Riggle delivered four spikes and recorded a block and an attack by Emily Dyer was sent back out of bounds for the 10-1 score.
Moorefield responded by scoring eight straight points and eventually took the lead at 12-11.
O’Neill and Hinkle created points off attacks during that stretch with the help of errors.
An ace served by O’Neill and a saving dig by Simmons turning into a point provided the edge.
East Hardy fought back as Rebecca Whetzel and Emily Yates notched kills, Fleshman served an ace and Miller made a block for a 17-14 lead.
After another ace by Fleshman, the Lady Yellow Jackets answered with two kills by McGregor.
Riggle created the next three points off attacks before Hardy notched a kill.
Yates and Riggle ended the second set with spikes giving the Lady Cougars a 25-18 victory.
The Lady Cougars built a 5-1 lead in the third set which included kills from Riggle and Yates plus an ace by Dyer.
The next three volleys by East Hardy went awry, then Riggle and Fleshman notched points off attacks.
Moorefield started to close the gap on a kill and a pair of aces by Hinkle to make it 8-7.
A couple aces by Fleshman and a block by Miller put East Hardy ahead 13-8.
Hardy and Whetzel traded spikes, then O’Neill rebounded from a dig by Miller with another attack finding the floor and McGregor’s two serves were returned into the net, 14-12.
Hinkle made several kills as the Lady Yellow Jackets tied the set at 16-all.
Hardy and Riggle traded kills, then Hardy put Moorefield ahead on a spike and maintained the lead to the end of the set.
There were a number of errors down the stretch, then Rinker finished the set with a kill giving Moorefield a 25-18 win.
East Hardy took a 6-1 lead in the fourth set which included a block by Riggle and digs by Whetzel and Dyer turning into points in addition to a kill by Fleshman.
Moorefield closed the gap to 8-5 on attacks by Hardy and Rinker returned into the net.
An attack by McGregor ricocheted up to the rafters, then Hardy served an ace for a 9-7 score.
Yates and Riggle garnered kills before both teams hit the net off of serves, then Riggle, Simmons and Anna Riggleman made digs.
A spike by Riggleman then an attack by Riggle was saved at the bleachers and not rethread then Fleshman’s attack as blocked out of bounds for a 19-10 East Hardy lead.
“I am very proud of my team. We’ve come a long ways since we first started the season and it’s great to be going. Playing five sets with Moorefield, we’ve improved a lot since we first played with them and earlier in the week. The intensity was awesome. We were up and we were down, but overall we were cool,” East Hardy senior Rebecca Whetzel said.
Throughout the match, you could see players on both sides encouraging one another.
After a net error, Moorefield answered with two aces by Hinkle.
A dig by Hardy on an attack from Fleshman was redirected out of play, 20-13.
Moorefield took advantage of some errors to cut the deficit.
East Hardy won the fourth set with the final two points coming on kills from Riggle, 25-21.
“I am pretty excited to go to the state tournament, because we started the season off pretty rough not knowing where we’d be. We’ve got a lot better as the season progressed. This is my first year going and we are the last group graduating that were with the state champions. It was very intense today. I thought we were going to win. We’ve played them four times, but we have gotten better and went further along in each game we played against them,” East Hardy senior Jaden Fleshman noted.
The tiebreaker was just as intense as both teams battled for region supremacy.
“I am really proud of my teammates, because we have never won both plaques in the same season. For us to stay focused and have all of us here, that’s been our dream since freshman year. When I was in middle school, I remember Tara George and them getting the regional plaque. For us to win both plaques was really cool to experience. East Hardy wasn’t going to lay down for us whatsoever. That was all on us. We didn’t play our best game, but anybody can beat us on any given day at any given time. We just have to be ready and I give it to us for staying focused,” Moorefield senior Lindsey Rinker stated.
Moorefield and East Hardy are preparing to make a statement in Charleston this weekend with a potential to meet in the state championship match if everything is set correctly.
“It just kind of shows you where we start, is not where we finished. I think we showed everybody we are definitely one of the top eight teams in the state now. For us to come out and compete the way we did, I think we just ran out of gas a little bit in the end. We were asking a lot of people to do a lot of things and we played a lot of volleyball today. Hats off to our girls, we played really well and just ran out of gas at the wrong time,” East Hardy Volleyball assistant coach Chris Hahn commented.[/private]