×

LKC Volleyball Runner-Up

Parkersburg Catholic falls to Tyler Consolidated

JAY W. BENNETT, The Marietta Times Parkersburg Catholic's Aaliyah Brunny (2) is joined by teammate Paige Stotts (10) on a block against Clay County's Alyssa Deal during Saturday's Little Kanawha Conference semifinals in Kidwell, W.Va., at Tyler Consolidated High School.

KIDWELL — Tyler Consolidated’s six seniors accomplished one of their season-long goals here Saturday night as the Silver Knights defeated Parkersburg Catholic 25-22, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-13 to win the Little Kanawha Conference volleyball championship.

Libero Peyton Kocher, who had a match-high 28 digs, served up an ace for match point that went off the top of the net and plopped over on the hardwood of the Silver Knights’ homecourt.

“I wanted that ace. That was even better because it’s really hard to do,” Kocher said shortly after taking a team picture. “I think this is the beginning of many championships for us.”

Parkersburg Catholic, which doesn’t have a senior on the team and dropped to 14-9 for head coach Amanda Weatherwax, didn’t help itself with a trio of service errors in the pivotal third set.

“They played really strong through the semifinal game and had high energy,” noted Weatherwax, whose club defeated Clay County 25-22, 25-8 and 25-18 while TCHS bested Doddridge County by scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 25-21 in the other semifinal.

“We had some mistakes in the championship game and we can’t let ourselves get our head down.”

Veteran Silver Knight head man Richard Summers was more than pleased to see Kocher, JoLee Walton (match-high 42 assists), Josey Jones (match-high 19 kills), Emily Lancaster (12 kills), Alexa Johnson (11 kills) and Cora Grimm (18 digs) finally win an LKC crown as 12th-graders.

“I’m just glad my seniors had an opportunity to play in this and hopefully it will help us down the road,” said Summers, whose squad improved to 27-7 and won the LKC crown for the first time since 2012. “Winning the LKC is a huge deal and it’s the toughest and hardest single-A conference in West Virginia.

“I’m happy for them. They do work hard and it’s been a while. I can’t say enough about the seniors and Josey Jones just put on a show. She’s just a really good player.”

In the opening set, Regan Smith’s kill put the Silver Knights ahead for good at 22-21 and Jones ended the set with a downed spike.

PCHS, which was led by Jenna Boice’s 29 assists, Gracie Lowers’ 24 digs and Aaliyah Brunny’s 14 kills, watched an 18-12 lead in set two slip away. PCHS moved ahead 23-22 when Boice and Lainie Ross (10 kills) double blocked Jones.

However, Jones responded with a kill, but Brunny followed with a downed spike and Paige Stotts’ ace made it a best-of-three match.

Consecutive service errors by the Crusaderettes gave the Silver Knights the lead for good in set three at 15-14. Jones then smashed a kill on a back-row attack, which seemed to give the hosts all the momentum.

“We have to work hard for every point we get,” Walton said. “This is awesome. We’ve done so much hard work and it’s starting to pay off.”

The only time set four was even came at one-all. Jones then registered a kill as too did Lancaster. It was 7-1 after a long volley went TCHS’ way when Johnson got a kill and it was 8-1 after a Jones ace.

Lainie Ross tried to keep PCHS within striking distance after she made a play at the net which resulted in a downed spike. Ari Nedeff added a service tally which then cut the deficit to 11-6, but PCHS never got closer than three the rest of the way.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said a smiling Jones. “We’ve been working really hard and all the seniors deserve it. The whole team deserves it.

“I’m just really proud of everybody. I think our biggest goal is to get better every single day and give it 100 percent every time we step on the court whether it’s practice or a game.”

Clay County (17-13-4), which got 10 kills and four aces from Alisea McMillion as well as seven kills, three blocks and two aces from Courtney Bevins, topped Doddridge County 25-18, 22-25, 19-25, 25-16 and 15-12 to win the consolation match.

The Bulldogs (13-20) were led in their semifinal setback by Jasmine Ball’s seven points and two aces. Abi Jo Nicholson and Kaiden Amos also had an ace apiece for the Bulldogs, who got five service tallies apiece from Brooklyn Hinzman and Raine Fritz.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.15/week.

Subscribe Today