Wirt County’s Addie Stephens awaits a serve during a match earlier this season. The Tiger junior was named the Little Kanawha Conference Player of the Year by league coaches. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Ravenswood senior Macy Casto earned her fourth nod on the All-Little Kanawha Conference volleyball first team as selected by league coaches, but Wirt County junior Addie Stephens was honored as the player of the year.

Stephens, who will join her teammates next month at W.Va. State for the single-A state tournament as the No. 3 seed, was selected to the top unit for a third successive campaign.

“She knows that she’s not able to excel at her job if she doesn’t have the other 11 girls on this team with her doing their respective jobs as well,” admitted Tiger head coach Katie Frazier.

The Tiger has registered 546 kills, 78 aces, 82 blocks, 123 digs as well as 95 assists. Her season high is 39 downed spikes.

Casto, who helped the Red Devils of head man Chris Michael win their first LKC championship, finished her career as the school’s all-time leader in kills, aces, attacks in and serves in.

Along with hitting .320, Casto had 585 kills, 100 aces, 36 blocks and 660 passes on target.

She set the school record of 32 kills twice this season in matches versus Ripley and Tyler Consolidated.

Tyler Consolidated, which was denied entry into the Class A state tournament, was represented on the first team by junior Katie Grimm and sophomore Kayli West. Grimm, an 88.2% server, had 80 aces, 37 blocks, 372 digs, 267 serve-receives and 310 kills while sporting a .287 hitting efficiency. West had 238 kills, hit .254 and finished with 238 digs, 137 blocks, including 80 solo, along with 30 aces while serving at better than a 92% clip.

Williamstown, which reached the Class AA state tournament after leaving single-A as the three-time defending state champions, landed seniors Kyndra Johnson and Becca Shamblin on the first team.

Johnson, who had more than 3,300 career assists, finished the regular season with 924 assists, 94 aces, 116 digs and 31 blocks. Shamblin, the only repeat honoree on the first team, finished the regular season with 570 kills, 45 aces, 240 digs and 87 blocks.

Casto was joined on the first unit by fellow Red Devils Annie Starcher, their junior setter, and younger sister Anna Casto. The sophomore Casto tallied 347 kills, 23 blocks, had 789 passes on target and also served at 98% with 80 aces. Starcher, who has the RHS school record for sets in season, was a 92% server who had 32 aces, 15 blocks and had a setting accuracy of 98.3% on 2,237 attempts.

Gilmer County, which was ousted in the regional co-final by state No. 6 seed Sherman, was represented on the first team by junior twin sisters Ava Dobbins (177 K, .228 H-E, 143 BLK, 54 aces, 89% server, 45 D) and Blair Dobbins (182 K, .168 H-E, 136 BLK, 24 aces, 80% server).

Also earning first team distinction were seniors Callie Powell of St. Marys and Clay County’s Rylee Burkhammer, who hit .222 with 304 kills, 65 aces, 51 blocks, 330 digs, 322 serve-receives and was an 82% server.

After qualifying for the regional to play at Trinity, the Blue Devils were then forced to square off against Tyler Consolidated. Although the Silver Knights eliminated them, SMHS was given new life and later ousted the Warriors in a regional co-final to punch their ticket to state for the first time in school history.

Powell had a large hand in the outcome of the match as she double-doubled with 19 kills and a dozen digs.

The four-year starter for the Pleasants County program has 302 kills, 408 digs and 53 aces.

St. Marys, which has the No. 8 seed at the state tournament and will take on expected champion East Hardy, landed Laura Hacker on the second team.

Calhoun County with Abi Waldron and Lauren Lovejoy along with Williamstown’s Keatyn Haynes and Annabelle Haught were the only LKC programs with a pair of second team selections.

The remainder of the All-LKC second team included Roane County’s Lexi Mitchell, Ritchie County’s Rae Rupert, South Harrison’s Molly Thomas, Doddridge County’s A’Kaia Williams, Tyler Consolidated’s Jules Lattea, Clay County’s Madison Morton and Wirt County’s Makayla Moore.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com