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Yellowjacket volleyball grabs big LKC West victory

Photo by Jay W. Bennett Williamstown’s Kayla Bauman, going for a block Thursday night against visiting Ritchie County, tied teammate Brittney Hooper with a match-high 15 kills in the Yellowjackets’ five-set victory versus the Rebels.

WILLIAMSTOWN — Kayla Bauman and Brittney Hooper had season-highs of 15 kills apiece here Thursday night as Williamstown used a balanced hitting attack and proved to be a tad more consistent during a five-set Little Kanawha Conference West Division volleyball victory versus Ritchie County.

The Rebels of head coach Matt Carpenter won the first (25-19) and third sets (26-24), but the Yellowjackets dominated set two (25-11) and triumphed in the final two sets, 25-20 and 15-9.

“Our biggest problem this year has been consistency,” admitted ‘Jacket head coach Rachelle Cole, whose squad also received 14 kills from Bethany Arnold along with seven downed spikes apiece from Skyler Chancellor and Faith Hoosier with Chancellor producing a match-high 10 blocks.

“We’ve put in a lot of work at practice to try and fix things. Some of it showed at points tonight and other times it didn’t.

“There were stints of time I thought we looked pretty good, kind of living up to our potential. I think the biggest victory for us tonight was we kept our heads when it mattered. We aren’t always so great at that and they stayed positive. I think that was the big win for them knowing they can be in a tight situation and come out on top.”

The victory for Williamstown upped its mark to 11-6-2 overall and more importantly 2-2 in the LKC West.

Ritchie County, now 7-10-1 overall and 1-2 in the LKC West, had two leads in the fifth set. The first at 1-0 with Kayla Holbrook at the service line and again at 8-7 as Catherine Jones picked up two points, the first coming when Kaelynn Ireland blocked Brittney Hooper to square it at seven apiece.

Chloe Hooper’s four straight service tallies after a Rebel error pushed the hosts ahead 12-8. An emphatic kill by Brittney Hooper from one of Lakyn Joy’s match-high 26 assists later made it 13-9 and Meghan Jefferson, who joined libero Gracie Graham with seven digs while Jillian Modesitt had four, got the final two points via RCHS attack errors.

“I’m sure it was great volleyball to watch,” said Carpenter, who received a baker’s dozen kills from Kenda Osborne, 20 assists from Bri Jones as well as a combined 19 downed spikes from Haidyn DePinho, Abi Haught, Andrea Kirk and Ireland. “I mean obviously we are disappointed. Williamstown played a great game. We had some errors at crucial times and we’ve been kind of fighting that all year. We want to get better and a little cleaner with the ball, with our passes and setting and our hitting.

“We’ve played really good competition all year. Every night you better show up. We hope to be better at the end of the season playing such a tough schedule. We’re trying to get through it and we’re hoping to get back down to Charleston and the girls have been working hard. We’re just trying to keep their heads up and keep plugging away.”

The Rebels, who also received nine digs from Ashley Davis and two aces from Katelyn Lambert, return to action on Tuesday at Bridgeport.

Williamstown hits the road Wednesday to take on defending Class AA state champion Philip Barbour.

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