Gallery by Heather Belcher
Saturday evening after a full day of volleyball, it was Cabell Midland battling the host team in the championship game of the 2024 Shirley Brown Invitational at Woodrow Wilson High School.
In the end however, the height and the power of the Knights secured enough winners to bring the championship plaque back to Cabell County.
“They just have a whole lot of heart. They will get down and then all of a sudden catch fire,” first-year Cabell Midland head coach Shannon Gerencir said. “They are never really out of it because they know that they will pick it up and start playing. I’m really, really proud of them.”
Both teams worked through pool play with only one loss which came against each other, sweeping South Charleston and Hurricane in the opening session.
Woodrow Wilson earned the No. 1 seed in the single elimination bracket tournament based on points allowed, with Cabell Midland drawing the No. 2 seed.
Although the two top seeds eventually met for all the marbles, the journey to the championship game was far from easy.
In the quarterfinal round, the Flying Eagles swept South Charleston (25-7, 25-17), while the Knights topped Shady Spring in two sets (25-17, 25-19).
The semifinal clashes were where things got interesting for both teams.
Cabell Midland was matched up with George Washington, while Woodrow Wilson had to tangle with Spring Valley.
The Knights dropped the first set before bouncing back to even the match forcing a third set to 15 points. Trailing early, Midland rallied to take set three and move to the championship match.
“We only have three seniors. There is a bunch of freshman and sophomores on the floor,” Gerencir said. “I always expect them to play well and win, but it is really nice when they do it.”
Woodrow looked in good shape to take set one over the Timberwolves before they erased a late three-point deficit to tie the opening set at 23-apiece.
A kill from Salia Harris and an ace from Skyler Jeffrey placed set one in the win column for the host team.
Set two belonged the Spring Valley who raced out to a seven point lead before Woodrow scored five straight. The Flying Eagles eventually evened the match and took the lead for a brief moment, but could not hold off the Wolves comeback.
The final set was a nail-biter with Woodrow battling back from an early deficit to take a 15-12 win, securing its place in the championship match.
Unfortunately for the Flying Eagles, the power at the net from the Knights made scoring a difficult task in their title quest.
Assistant coach Lauren Dillon, who was filling in for head coach Bre Rhodes who delivered her second child Friday, talked about the battle with the visitors from Cabell County.
“Our girls played well today. I knew coming in that Cabell Midland was going to be really good. I don’t think they lost many from last year and they were a strong team last year,” Dillon said. “I did think our girls, even when they were down by six points, showed some grit and just chipped away at it. We still have some things we need to work on. There were some silly mistakes that killed our momentum.”
Woodrow Wilson started strong, but Midland’s size was the determining factor the rest of the way giving them a straight sets victory (25-21, 25-20).
“We are pretty efficient with our hitting. We struggled some with the pins, but they picked it up when we needed to,” Gerencir said. “We are big which is new to me. We are not usually this big in high school. We are tall, athletic and we move really well. The girls definitely can get in your face at the net, which is good for our defense. Then they can line up off of that block.”
The Knights ability to block the attackers frustrated the Flying Eagles in both sets.
“They are big and have tall girls, so they got touches on almost all of the blocks. They covered the floor well too,” Dillon said. “Cabell Midland did a really good job of keeping the ball in play. That is so important to not make it easy on the other team.”
The day for Shady Spring was very tough battling injuries and a stomach bug that hindered its play.
“We have made some adjustments and are playing better than last week,” Shady Spring head coach Brantlea Wood said. “We have the right pieces, but we are still looking for the right combinations. There were flashes of good things today. We just need to work on consistency.”
