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Wirt County volleyball ousts St. Marys in four sets

By Jay W. Bennett 5 min read

ST. MARYS – In a Little Kanawha Conference showdown here Thursday night host St. Marys lost a tough opening set en route to falling 26-24, 25-19, 12-25 and 25-19 to defending Class A state champion Wirt County.

The Blue Devils of head coach Stephanie Corathers, who are still without the services of first team all-stater Brynnley Bulluck, got 20 assists from Rylee Renner, 10 kills by Lauren Pritchett and a trio of aces from Morgan Bardwell in the setback.

Wirt County, which improved to 16-5-1 and heads Saturday to the Buffalo Invitational, was missing sophomore spiker Simone Hall, who had 15 kills in last year's state title match victory versus Gilmer County.

"We’re just kind of taking it day by day," admitted Wirt County head coach Katie Frazier, who received 41 assists and five kills from Breigyn Dawson along with double-digit downed spike totals from Sophie Romage (12) and Peyten McKown (10) with Mya Hatcher (14 digs) and Rayann Nay (12 digs) leading the defense.

"We’re just trying to get a little better every day. There’s a long way to go yet still, but we’re kind of figuring things out and moving people around a little bit to try and find the right mixture coming into October."

Jasmine Williams had a match-high five aces for the Tigers, who got eight kills and as many digs from Brook Mills as well as three downed spikes by Addi Williams and a trio of aces from Cate Wigal.

"They did a great job tonight stepping in," Frazier added. "This is the first game that Addi Williams has been in and had a couple good blocks and attacks that we needed her to get. That was really good.

"She’s just been a serving sub up until now. We have a couple others in there helping out and playing defense. Definitely some things to shore up and get better at. Serving was a weak point for us tonight, but they figured out how to score points other ways and it was alright."

The Blue Devils led 23-21 in the opening set, but kills by Mills and Addi Williams squared it.

Wirt County's fifth service error of the set gave St. Marys a chance to take a 1-0 edge, but Dawson had a kill and then a tip by McKown was played out of bounds. The Tigers got set point when Pritchett was double blocked by Romage and McKown.

Although a Lia Casenelli service point got the Tigers on the board first in set two, Renner served the hosts to a 6-1 advantage as Pritchett and Brenzie Ebert had kills in the spurt.

However, the orange and black rallied behind the serving of Jasmine Williams, who had two of her aces to help the visitors go up 7-6.

A trio of service tallies from Wigal, which included an ace, kept the set even at 11 as the Tigers pushed ahead 15-14 following a Nay kill via an Addi Williams assist.

St. Marys tied it at 16-all thanks to an Addie Reed kill, but a service error gave the Tigers the lead for good.

Wirt County had three more service errors in set three and failed to score a service point as St. Marys ran away with the set. An early kill by Ebert made it 4-2 and it was 7-3 after Renner had a dump kill with teammate Elliott Chipps serving.

A Pritchett block later had the Tigers doubled up at 20-10 as Bardwell served up an ace on set point.

The Tigers took control of set four early when Wigal's ace put the visitors ahead for good at 7-6 and was followed by a Dawson/McKown double block and then a McKown kill.

The Blue Devils kept within striking distance at 15-10 following another downed spike by Reed, but couldn't get any closer. Wirt County received match point via a McKown block.

"Really disappointed. I felt like when we got here tonight that I could tell we weren’t here," said Corathers. "You can’t teach the mental game. They have what it takes and they’ve proved that.

Our average height is 5-5 and our tallest girl is 5-9.

"We play a different kind of ball and you have to hustle. Walking through the door I knew they weren’t here tonight. I don’t know if it was mental, but we watched tape. We knew it was possible. I just couldn’t get them out."

St. Marys, which advanced to last year's state semifinals and also received a trio of kills from Maddie Lambert, slipped to 16-7 and returns to action at 6 p.m. Monday in Belpre.

"We’re not only missing a big part of our team with her being gone, not just as a player, but she’s a real big leader on the court," Corathers added of not having Bulluck. "Watching her grow has been amazing because she can sit on the sideline and see everything that I’ve yelled at her about.

"Now she’s saying what I say. It’s just funny. She would do anything to be back out there. We’re hoping she can touch the floor senior year. We just got Bardwell back. She’s only been back for just a little bit."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Wirt County d. St. Marys 26-24, 25-19, 12-25, 25-19

WCHS (16-5-1) stats: Brook Mills 8 K, 8 D; Peyten McKown 1 AST, 10 K, 4 B; Breigyn Dawson 7 pts, 1 ace, 41 AST, 5 K, 2 B, 7 D; Mya Hatcher 7 pts, 1 ace, 1 K, 14 D; Jasmine Williams 11 pts, 5 aces, 1 D; Lia Cassenelli 6 pts, 7 D; Sophie Romage 12 K, 2 B, 8 D; Cate Wigal 11 pts, 3 aces; Rayann Nay 1 pt, 8 K, 12 D; Addi Williams 1 AST, 3 K, 2 B

SMHS (16-7) stats: Lainey DeWeese 6 pts; Maddie Lambert 2 pts, 1 AST, 3 K; Rylee Renner 16 pts, 1 ace, 20 AST, 4 K; Brenzie Ebert 6 pts, 2 K; Morgan Bardwell 9 pts, 3 aces, 5 K; Addie Reed 4 pt, 4 K; Elliott Chipps 2 pts; Lauren Pritchett 1 pt, 10 K

Next matches: Wirt County at Buffalo Invite on Saturday; St. Marys at Belpre, 6 p.m. Monday.

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