St. Marys junior Brynnley Bulluck was recognized as a first-team member of the Class A All-State Volleyball Team. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

CHARLESTON – The Wirt County volleyball program stood atop the Class A field and earned the Tigers’ 14th overall state crown in school history.

A large part of that success came from the all-around play of senior Addie Stephens, who for the second straight year was selected captain of the single-A all-state first team by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

“Addie has made substantial growth from her freshman to senior year – as a player and as a person as a whole,” admitted Wirt County head coach Katie Frazier, who also watched Stephens earn a nod on the first team as a freshman.

“She came into this year wanting to try and fill the leader role that we had missed last year without any seniors and became more vocal than she had ever been before. This group of seniors wanted to finally go out with their last game as a win and they worked incredibly hard to get there, on and off the court.”

Stephens concluded her final year for the orange and black with 597 kills, a 56% kill rate and a .518 hitting efficiency. A 93% server, she had 100 aces, 163 digs and 61 blocks en route to helping the Tigers to their first state championship since 2020.

Wirt County senior Addie Stephens (10) repeated as the Class A all-state volleyball first team captain. (Photo by Teran Malone/WVMetroNews)

“Being a senior and it being your last chance to win a title makes a huge difference,” added coach Frazier. “She’s done a great job of stepping up this year and the team as a whole decided they weren’t going to finish out the year any way other than by putting a new state picture up in the gym.”

Five players earned repeat nods on the first team and that included Ava Dobbins of state runner-up Gilmer County. Senior twin sister Blair Dobbins also earned a spot on the top unit.

Ava, a 91% server who had 44 aces, finished with 320 kills, a .290 efficiency and had 91 digs, 119 total blocks with 53 solo. Blair delivered 71 aces as an 86% server. She hit .226 with 283 kills and had 112 total blocks with 48 solo. The younger Dobbins also chipped in 89 digs.

The other four repeat selections went to seniors Morganne Miller of East Hardy, Sophia Rollo of Sherman, Katie Vickers of Huntington St. Joe and Ginger Gross of Clay-Battelle.

Miller guided EHHS into the state semifinals before falling to the Tigers in four sets. The Cougar served at 94% with 79 aces. Along with a 42% kill rate, she had 376 downed spikes, hit .315 and added 29 blocks, 20 assists and 201 digs.

Sherman was upset by St. Marys in the quarterfinals, but Rollo still amassed 33 aces as a 95% server and had 614 kills. She hit .537 with a 57% kill rate to go with 46 solo blocks and 257 digs.

Vickers, a 91% server who had 89 aces, put down 751 attacks with a .340 efficiency. The Irish, who lost in the regional to Gilmer County, also received 28 blocks, 40 assists, 381 digs and 382 serve receptions from Vickers.

Clay-Battelle, whose season also came to a close in regional play versus St. Marys, watched Gross compile 431 digs with 613 serve receptions to go along with 44 assists, 144 kills and 71 aces while serving at 95%.

Defending Class A state champ Greenbrier West, which fell 3-1 to the Titans as the No. 7 seed in Charleston, landed Maddie Sweet on the first team. The junior had 546 assists, 210 digs, 42 kills and 35 blocks.

Wirt County, which captured the Little Kanawha Conference title as well, also had sophomore Breigyn Dawson grab a spot on the first team. The Tiger setter had 1,048 assists and 118 aces while chipping in 93 kills and 144 digs.

Also earning a spot on the first team was Brynnley Bulluck of St. Marys. The junior Blue Devil, who was injured in postseason play and couldn’t compete at the state tournament, finished as a 95% server and had 29 aces. She hit .281 with a 35% kill rate and 415 downed spikes. She also registered 23 solo blocks, 38 assists, 434 digs and had 340 serve receptions.

St. Marys senior teammate Alyssa Winland was named captain of the all-state second team. The libero produced 567 digs and had 512 serve receptions. The 95% server registered 38 aces and added six kills with 16 assists.

Only two juniors – East Hardy’s Madison Kerr and Clay-Battelle’s Nevaeh St Clair – made the second team.

The seven other second team honorees were all seniors – Sherman’s Emma Russell, Greenbrier West’s Ava Price, Huntington St. Joe’s Ava Gallion, Notre Dame’s Piper Fryer, Magnolia’s Jessa Anderson, Madonna’s Rylee Birkhimer and Wirt County’s Makayla Moore.

Wooden plaques in the shape of West Virginia that include the high school name, player’s name, licensed WVSWA logo, and year of the honoree, are available to all-state first team, second team, and honorable mentions and can be purchased from the Bear Wood Company through WVSWA.org or Bearwoodcompany.com