Pendleton County Volleyball rose to the occasion leaping over Cougars to defend the Franklin Den denying East Hardy in their season opener on the road by snatching the fifth set tiebreaker by four points for the match victory in a crazy cat fight on Thursday night: PC 25-23, EH 25-18, EH 25-17, PC 25-23, PC 15-11.
“We expected this match-up, because East Hardy always has a tough team. We finally got it together this past weekend. We played hard and looked forward to tonight to have some competition with East Hardy. We are very pleased with the win,” Pendleton County coach Cathy Bennett noted.
The Wildcats (4-2) already had some games played to shake off early rust to the season and the battle against East Hardy (0-1) ran the gamut of excitement and complacency to a degree with a roller coaster ride making the Cougars season opener a bittersweet test as some youthful mistakes became costly in the novelty of the year despite the enthusiasm to finally be on the court after several cancellations.
“It feels like we have been practicing for five months now. The kids were excited to be out there and we are behind the teams by several games. They are ahead of us game wise, but the girls were excited to play tonight,” East Hardy assistant coach Chris Hahn commented.[private]
“We have a pile of young kids out there, so first time varsity experience and clearly they had some trouble transitioning. One thing I thought you could see even though they were struggling was that they never stopped battling. When you have a night where you don’t think you played up to your potential, but you manage to push it to five sets is a bit of a bright spot. The good news of this is they will buckle down in practice and go really hard. The young girls [JV] did a really good job and minimized their mistakes.”
Pendleton County narrowly held off the Cougars rally in the fourth set to create the tiebreaking fifth set.
East Hardy’s Victoria Ames created a couple service points as the Wildcats deflected the ball out of play with Pendleton County’s gap closing to 16-14 in the fourth set before the next serve went out.
The Wildcats countered with a pair of aces by Haley Moats to extend the edge to 19-14.
East Hardy’s Emily Dyer made an attack which wasn’t returned as two Pendleton County defenders collided on an attempt to make a dig.
The Cougars served again with Perry Whetzel at the line and the ball cleared the net, then it was returned by Pendleton County’s Hannah Koontz.
A volley by East Hardy’s Erin Riggle was blocked by Pendleton County’s Brandy Bowers, but saved on a dig by Dyer with the ball rising just over the net and returned for a point by Moats.
Riggle garnered a spike, but the ensuing point was given back on a serve out of bounds.
East Hardy’s SierraMarie Miller swatted the ball and it was saved by the Wildcats’ Regan Sites, but wasn’t able to be redirected back over the net for a 21-17 score.
Two attacks by Miller were turned into errors by Pendleton County with a carrying violation and a net ball as the gap was reduced to 21-19.
Pendleton County’s Hannah Swigunski notched a point on a kill, then the serve by Koontz was saved on a dive into the bench area by Dyer and the ricochet couldn’t be corralled back over the net.
Miller’s attack transformed into a point, but the Wildcats countered with a spike by Swigunski to face the fourth set match point 24-20.
East Hardy pushed back with a rally as Courtney Shank and Erin Riggle made kills to pull within one point, 24-23.
An attack by Riggle was saved by Pendleton County’s Ana Young with the ball spinning back over the net, but it caromed off Riggle into the net giving the Wildcats the 25-23 win to insure a deciding fifth set.
East Hardy took the initial point of the fifth set as Riggle’s attack was met with a dig by Pendleton County’s Corinne Hedrick and ricocheted out of bounds.
Riggle served at the line and returned by Bowers before an attack from Miller was blocked by Koontz.
The Wildcats built a 5-1 lead with help from two errant volleys sailing out of play by East Hardy plus a kill by Swigunski and a service point from Bowers as the ball was returned into the net.
A dig by East Hardy’s Perry Whetzel off an attack by Koontz was redirected out of bounds, then Swigunski’s volley was hit back into the net.
East Hardy’s Lily Riggle created a dig which went back over the net, but the Wildcats responded with a volley by Koontz which was placed into the net by the Cougars.
Ames notched a push style point for East Hardy and Miller garnered a block on Swigunski to close the gap 8-4.
Young and Miller traded points on spikes, then a tap attack by Hedrick was denied on a dig from Dyer only the pass was not returned as Miller crashed into net going for the volley.
Dyer earned a point from a dig redirecting a hit by Pendleton County’s Regan Sites.
East Hardy’s Erin Riggle made a dink, but Pendleton County’s Ana Young tried to make a quick save spinning the ball over her head and the motion caused her hand to reach over the net, 10-7.
Bowers made two kills surrounding a serve into the net by Young to put the Wildcats ahead 12-8.
Pendleton County’s Hedrick landed an ace, then East Hardy countered with a kill by Erin Riggle.
Ames and Shank made digs for the Cougars, but the latter dig of an attack by Swigunski caromed just out of play giving Pendleton County a 14-9 edge.
Miller created a spike and Whetzel made a dig which was returned into the net by the Wildcats as the East Hardy maintained some momentum, 14-11.
Ames and Whetzel came up with saving digs on hit by Young and Swigunski.
Koontz blocked a volley and it was saved by Riggle, then the Wildcats responded with a volley by Swigunski which was redirected into the net by East Hardy ending the match in favor of Pendleton County 15-11.
East Hardy proved this season will have a plethora of room for growth as the first set of the season was an indication building a 15-4 lead on a blanc e of seven, kills and digs before the Wildcats found ways to counter with kills and blocks to rally back for a 25-23 win.
The Cougars made necessary adjustments to respond in the second and third sets winning those by the scores of 25-18 and 25-17.
East Hardy’s Gabreanna Miller made big contributions in those sets with serves, kills and blocks.
SierraMarie Miller and Erin Riggle both found good rhythm with attacks and blocks to keep the momentum flowing and Caitlin Ward stepped in to earn points through serving, attacks and a block.
Pendleton County had the energy and swagger to garner the five-set victory.
In JV action, the Cougars claimed both sets in the season opener over Pendleton County 25-18 and 25-15.
The Cougars went right back to practice to prepare for the rivalry match against Moorefield in the Den yesterday and there was a quick turnaround to play Class AA foes Keyser and Petersburg tomorrow night.[/private]