Gallery by Heather Belcher
Following a runner-up finish at The Shirley Brown Invitational, Beckley’s volleyball team had not seen the competitive court for two weeks.
Saturday morning the Flying Eagles looked like they hadn’t missed a beat.
Welcoming longtime rival Greenbrier East and county foe Independence, Beckley swept both matches, 2-0.
“They looked good. We did have a long break and we hadn’t played since our tournament. Sometimes that is good and sometimes that is bad. It worked out for us,” Beckley head coach Bre Rhodes said. “Both of the teams today put up a good fight. We still have things to work on, but we are where we want to be right now. Everybody played well today and did what they were supposed to do.”
The Flying Eagles and the Patriots battled in the first match of the day.
Leading 5-4, Beckley started to pull away thanks to a kill and two aces from senior all-stater Salia Harris. Independence answered with three straight points, but could not slow down the Flying Eagles who exploded on an 11-1 run.
The biggest lead came at 24-11 when a block from freshman Mollie Smith found Beckley senior setter Abby Dillon. The first team all-state selection served up a perfect ball which Harris flushed for the winner.
Beckley took set one, 25-14, and carried the momentum over to set two, roaring out to an 8-0 lead.
Independence refused to mail it in and battle back within five points, only to see the Flying Eagles run off six straight to put the set away.
Senior Dalya Hasan set the run in motion with a tip that found the floor and was followed by a slide winner from Smith. Harris added two kills to the outburst and also had the game winning blast in a 25-13 win.
“I think we are in a good spot. This has been a tough week and I kind of wanted that,” Independence head coach Ron Moreland said. “We had Shady Spring and Wayne (earlier in the week). We played a good second set against Wayne and Shady is a ghost of the past that we need to work through. Today we battled Woodrow Wilson tough at first. I saw a lot of the things that we have been working on this week finally clicking for the girls.”
In the final match of the day, Greenbrier East jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Beckley scored six points in a row and never trailed the rest of the set.
Dalya Hasan, senior Alexis Coleman and junior Anya Hasan all had kills over the stretch.
Saturday was somewhat of a breakout day for the youngest Hasan who found her groove with some powerful blasts from the outside.
“That is the girl that we know is in there. We really try to work on her confidence, but she is very hard on herself. I always told her once she gets out of her own head that she was going to be outstanding,” Rhodes said. “She did not let herself get in her way today. Anya played as big as we always knew she could. She has a powerful swing and we have always known that. She just had to get out of her own way.”
Beckley led by as many as eight points and took set one 25-18.
Harris opened set two against the Spartans will a kill and flushed an over pass to jump-start a 5-0 run which ballooned to an 18-10 lead later in the set.
East rallied with four straight points including three aces from Regan Rink, but could get no closer in a 25-18 setback.
“Our passes were a little off the net today, so we weren’t able to display her as much offensively, but Regan has the highest hitting percentage on the team. When we get in system more, we will be using her more and more as the season goes,” Greenbrier East head coach Matt Sauvage said about his junior middle-blocker. “I told her at the beginning of year that I expected her to have a good season this year and I meant every word of it. Defensively she already messes with people. Once we get our passing down, she will be a force for us.”
Independence and Greenbrier East met in the middle match of the morning with the Spartans beating the Patriots 2-0.
The opening set, however, was a nail-biter that went to the wire.
The Spartans held a 15-11 advantage before the Patriots evened the match with four straight points. The lead then went back to three on a pair of kills from Rink and a back row blast from senior Alexis Stack.
Still down three points at 24-21 and facing set point, Indy sophomore Graci Perry nailed back-to-back winners before a service error gave East a 25-23 win.
Moreland was impressed with the play of Graci, along with twin sister Maci, who have the height to provide the Patriots with a solid force at the net.
“Today especially, a lot of the things finally clicked for them,” Moreland said about his young duo. “We have worked on some mental toughness and today, across the board, it was the best games for both of them.”
Greenbrier East took most of the drama out of set two with an 8-0 spurt to start the set. Sophomore Reagan Cline served five aces in the opening outburst.
Four aces from Rink and three kills from Stack spawned another 8-0 run later in the match, leading to a 25-12 win.
With some big shoes to fill left by graduation, Sauvage was pleased with the play of his team Saturday.
“What I just told the girls was, the drive is there and the fight is there,” Sauvage said. “They made adjustments when we asked them to make them. The execution of the skill was hurting a couple of times, but that is fixable.”
“Just seeing the mindset that they brought being ready to play, I was pleased,” Sauvage went on to say. “You are never pleased with a loss, but this is a long journey and we are still early in the season. Let’s come in Monday and fix the skill side because everything else is coming the way we want it to.”
