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Yellowjackets celebrate senior night with sweep of Silver Knights

By Jay W. Bennett 5 min read

WILLIAMSTOWN -- Mady Erlandson and Jadyn Lee were honored here Tuesday on senior night and despite Tyler Consolidated's Kayli West earning her 1,000th career kill host Williamstown swept the Silver Knights 25-15, 25-22 and 25-20, which punched the Yellowjackets' ticket into the Little Kanawha Conference Night of Champions.

West finished with a match-high 16 kills for head coach Chris Bachman's 15-12 program, which also saw Stevie Torman tie WHS libero Riley Haines with a match-high four aces.

Although the Silver Knights, who have their senior night on Thursday when River invades, held early leads in each set the 'Jackets of head coach Rachelle Cole responded with a solid team effort.

Jordyn Gains finished with a match-high 34 assists as the WHS attack was led by Kennedy Rush's 15 kills. Siena Strucla added a dozen downed spikes while Chloe Mulligan had 10 and Olivia Buttrey nine.

"Tyler's a good team," said Cole, who also received an ace, two kills and six assists from Lila Bartenschlag. "I think we had our heads on right tonight where Saturday (at the Buffalo Invitational) we kind of let them go somewhere else for a while, but I think we worked hard yesterday at practice and the girls responded well."

Jadyn Thomas had an ace and 21 assists for the Silver Knights, who also received five kills from Sloane Wall.

"That's kind of been the story of our season," admitted Bachman. "We can't hold anything. We get on a little run and then we lose it part way through, and then we start out the next set down and then pick it up midway through and back down again.

"I keep telling our girls we don't have to be perfect until here in the last week of October. We got to be perfect then and we got to jell and put everything together. We're going to keep working. We're going to go back and look at some things and keep working."

A West kill and Torman's first ace gave TCHS a quick start in the opening set, but the duo of Rush and Strcula got going at the net with Bartenschlag toeing the service line and pushed ahead 8-3.

Consecutive aces by Haines gave the 'Jackets an 11-5 lead, but two West kills and back-to-back aces by Madison Stollings closed the deficit to 13-9. However, a Buttrey downed spike got WHS rolling as Bartenschlag's kill later finished off set point.

A block by West and two more aces from Torman helped the Silver Knights take a quick 4-0 lead in set two. It was still 8-4 TCHS after a kill by Sloane, but the hosts rallied behind the hitting of Rush and Mulligan to go ahead 13-9.

After West added a trio of kills and Torman served up another ace the visitors led 17-15. It was still 20-17 in favor of Tyler Consolidated following a kill by Prentice Kang, but the 'Jackets rallied all the way back. The hosts took the lead for good at 22-21 on a Buttrey kill and Lee's service tally gave WHS a commanding 2-0 edge in the best-of-five match.

Tyler Consolidated led 11-7 in what proved to be the final set after a Torman kill, but a Buttrey dig on a West laser across the net led to a Rush kill and changed the momentum.

Coach Bachman's team had it tied at 17 after a kill by Riley Wise, but back-to-back kills by Strcula made it 20-18 'Jackets as Strcula's tip resulted in a kill for match point.

Williamstown, which doesn't have the services of Maggie Frye this year and just recently got Mulligan back into the lineup, returns to action on Thursday at Ravenswood with Wheeling Central.

"It's definitely been a work in progress," Cole said of the season. "We played South Harrison the other night and had to sit Riley Haines for two sets because she was sick. We have four freshmen on the floor. At some point it's like the young ones only have so much experience to give so we are very inexperienced. The younger kids have stepped up, especially when we need them to. Kennedy and Olivia complement each other pretty well, opposite of each other. We thought about moving that around a little bit, but it just works so we've tried to adjust other things.

"Both are good hitters out of the middle, too. Is it kind of risky to play them all the way around all the time, but I think they've both improved as the season has gone on. They tend to make things happen. It's nice that one of them is always in the front and one of them is always in the back. Riley was a hitter last year and we decided to take a chance and throw her in at libero and she's been improving. It makes a difference to have a little bit of leadership in the back row, but it's just a work in progress. Some days it falls for us and some days it doesn't."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Williamstown d. Tyler Consolidated 25-15, 25-22, 25-20

Tyler Consolidated (15-12) stats: Sloane Wall 4 pts, 5 K; Madison Stollings 4 pts, 2 aces, 2 AST; Jadyn Thomas 5 pts, 1 ace, 21 AST; Kayli West 1 pt, 16 K; Prentice Kanz 1 K; Stevie Torman 9 pts, 4 aces, 1 K; Riley Wise 2 K

Williamstown stats: Olivia Buttrey 3 pts, 1 ace, 9 K; Riley Haines 12 pts, 4 aces; Kennedy Rush 6 pts, 15 K; Siena Strcula 12 K; Lila Bartenschlag 7 pts, 1 ace, 6 AST, 2 K; Jordyn Gains 11 pts, 34 AST, 1 K; Jadyn Lee 1 pt; Chloe Mulligan 10 K

Next matches: River at Tyler Consolidated, 6 p.m. Thursday for senior night; Williamstown/Wheeling Central at Ravenswood on Thursday.

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