Moorefield Middle School emerged victorious earning the crown in the inaugural Potomac Valley League 7th grade Volleyball Tournament Championship defeating Romney Middle 21-25, 25-12 and 25-13 last Tuesday in the Hive.
The path to the championship started with a semifinal win against Pendleton County by the scores of 25-16 and 25-17.
This was the first victory by the Lady Yellow Jackets over Romney Middle for the season and it came at the summit of the year.
The Lady Wildcats edged East Hardy Early Middle School in the opening round of the PVL Tournament by the scores of 25-11, 17-25 and 25-23.
Romney Middle defeated Capon Bridge to reach the PVL championship after the Lady Bobcats edged Petersburg Middle to begin the PVL tournament.
“It is absolutely awesome. There were some jitters in the first set, but once they settled down they were crushing the ball. Their serves were un-returnable which was pretty awesome. They were proud of themselves and you could see their pride when they looked our way. They didn’t get down in spirits and that is one issue we struggled with all season as girls, but I told them if they just smiled everything else would fall into place. They finally got that. They didn’t give up and didn’t get upset with each other. They were there to encourage one another when somebody made a mistake, giving them a high five or pat on the back. They made sure win or lose that everything was going to be okay and that to me is amazing. We’re making history. This is pretty awesome. Our 8th grade girls won the championship last year, but for these girls to win the first ever 7th grade PVL championship game is awesome. It’s a great day to be a Yellow Jacket wherever you may be,” Moorefield Middle Volleyball coach Chess Vetter commented.
In the first set of the PVL Championship, Moorefield Middle 7th grade team took an early 7-1 lead over the Lady Pioneers.
A Romney Middle service error created the first point for the Lady Yellow Jackets, then Moorefield Middle’s Ginger Combs served an ace and Korbin Keplinger made a kill.
After a serve out of play, Moorefield Middle’s Elektra Sions notched a point on an attack.
The Lady Yellow Jackets kept the momentum going as Hannah Snyder delivered three consecutive aces for the 7-1 advantage.
Romney Middle received two points off a service error and a serve returned into the net, then Moorefield Middle responded with a dig and kill by Combs.
Keplinger made a dig save on an attack and the ball sailed back over the net with a return coming from the Lady Pioneers, then a volley by Combs ricocheted back into the net for a Moorefield Middle point, 9-4.
Romney Middle gained several points off attacks into the net by the Lady Yellow Jackets, followed by seven aces to build a 20-13 lead in the first set.
Moorefield Middle garnered aces by Carlee Haines, Hannah Snyder and Korbin Keplinger (two) later in the set plus help from some errors to cut the deficit to 22-20.
Romney Middle picked up the win in the opening set on a serve returned into the net, 25-21.
An ace by Snyder in the second set put Moorefield Middle up 2-1, then the Lady Pioneers tied the set on a kill.
Another attack by Romney Middle was met with a dig by Haines and flipped over the net for a point.
Haines landed two aces giving the Lady Yellow Jackets a 5-2 lead.
Moorefield Middle’s Elektra Sions launched an attack which ricocheted up to the ceiling off the Lady Pioneers for a point, then Sions served up four straight aces for a 13-6 advantage.
There were a couple errors on both sides before another ace was made by Moorefield Middle’s Ginger Combs.
Later in the set, Haines served three aces to create a 21-9 lead for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
Romney Middle gained three more points in the second set, but Moorefield Middle finished with a 25-12 victory including another ace by Keplinger and set point kill made by Sions.
Romney Middle took a 3-1 lead, but kills by Sions and several from Haines lifted the Lady Yellow Jackets ahead 6-4.
Keplinger added a pair of aces and Sions made a kill to create a 12-6 lead for Moorefield Middle.
After some errors, Moorefield Middle’s Raleigh Kuykendall delivered two aces to go up 16-8.
Attacks by Sions and Keplinger were followed up by three consecutive aces from Haines to close out the match 25-13 to win the first ever 7th grade PVL championship.
The Lady Yellow Jackets celebrated jumping up as a team and holding the coach for pictures.
East Hardy Early Middle School 7th grade squad fought tough in the opening round, but couldn’t quite string together the points to have an All-Hardy County semifinal as Pendleton County found a way to serve to[private] victory.
The Lady Wildcats took a 5-1 lead in the first set over EHEMS led by Avery Townsend’s three aces and an additional service point.
EHEMS closed the gap 9-6 with the help of some errors and kills by Brooke Miller, Samara Pyles and Gracie Heishman.
Pendleton County took a 13-6 lead on several errant volleys and a block by Baylee Beachler.
After the Lady Wildcats hit the ball out, EHEMS’s Samara Pyles had a serve returned for a kill by Townsend.
The Lady Cougars earned the next two points on kills by Pyles and Madison Strosnider to make it 14-9.
Pendleton County Middle went on to finish the first set with a couple aces by Emma Hartman, 25-11.
The second set was close with seven ties in the early part leading up to a 10-8 lead by the Lady Cougars on aces by Strosnider and kills by Miller and Pyles.
Later in the set, EHEMS took a commanding 20-12 advantage which included four aces by Sydney Whetzel during that span.
An ace by April Dove and kill by MorganAnne Miller countered a couple of errors for a 22-14 score.
The Lady Cougars closed out the set with an ace by MorganAnne Miller and an attack by Pyles returned into the net, 25-17.
The battle continued in the third set with seven ties going up to 16-all with alternating leads.
The Lady Wildcats gained a 23-19 advantage off aces from Keiter and Townsend.
EHEMS refused to back down as an attack by Brooke Miller was returned out of play, then a serve by Miller was volleyed back into the net.
Miller created another service point and an attack by Whetzel was returned out of bounds to tie the set at 23-all.
On an attack by Townsend, Pendleton County earned a point as EHEMS carried the ball on a dig save attempt by Miller and the Lady Wildcats won the match on an ace from Brynlynn Waggy, 25-23.
“It’s nice for the younger group to now have a tournament just for them. They work just as hard as the older girls and deserve their night too. I was proud of the progress our young team made throughout the season. Most people look at a seventh grade team and expect them to play it safe, just bumping the ball back-and-forth across the net. Although we could have done that with any team there…that was not my goal for this group. My goal was to get the girls into the mindset of bump-set-attack: that’s what is going to make them better down the road,” EHEMS Volleyball coach Kathy Strawderman remarked.
Moorefield Middle defeated the Lady Wildcats to advance to the championship.
In the Potomac Valley League 8th grade Volleyball Tournament on Thursday, Pendleton County Middle School won the title against Capon Bridge.
Defending champion Moorefield Middle bowed out in the semifinal against Capon Bridge 25-17 and 25-12 after beating Petersburg Middle 25-17 and 25-16 in the opening round and EHEMS lost to Capon Bridge in the first round 25-20, 17-25 and 9-25.
The Lady Wildcats defeated Warm Springs (beat Union) and Romney Middle to reach the title match.
Pendleton County Middle claimed the PVL 8th grade Volleyball Championship in three sets over the Lady Bobcats by the scores of 23-25, 25-17 and 25-23 on Halloween night and celebrated with trick or treat bags filled with candy.
[/private]“This means everything. We worked really hard this season and this is an awesome group of girls. It has been a pleasure to coach them. It was my goal was to step into this program and grow our entire volleyball program and I feel like we’ve done that,” Pendleton County Middle Volleyball coach Marlena Beachler noted.
