Gallery by Heather Belcher
High school volleyball in West Virginia has reached the midway point of the season giving coaches a fairly good idea of where they stand.
Tuesday night in Glen Daniel, Liberty hosted Greenbrier West and PikeView in a tri-match with all three teams on different paths as they head for the stretch run.
Greenbrier West entered the season as a favorite to make another run to the state tournament this year. So far, the Cavaliers have done nothing to change that thought pattern.
Saturday Greenbrier West won the Bronze division at the Volley in the Valley Tournament at Greenbrier East High School with a win over Class AA Wyoming East in the championship match.
The Cavaliers backed that up Tuesday night with wins over the Raiders and the Panthers, also AA foes.
Greenbrier West beat Liberty to open the night, 25-21 and 25-16 before taking down PikeView 25-12 and 25-20.
“Whenever we are clicking we are pretty efficient and we look pretty good. Then we let off the gas a little and starting having fun. It’s hard to turn it back around when we need to,” Greenbrier West head coach Joe Robertson said. “We have had that problem all year. We play one good game and win pretty easy. The second game we kind of goof off and the next thing you know its 15-15 and we are a little shell-shocked.”
Although he feels his team still has some components to iron out, Robertson is happy with the progress so far this season.
“I think we have the right girls in the right spots and we are working well together. We need to get better at adjusting to what the other teams are doing though,” Robertson said. “All day Saturday we played teams that tip a lot. So, today we were up there for tips and Liberty was hitting deep corners. We have to be quicker to adjust to that. Overall though my seniors are doing a good job leading me and my hitters are doing good. I just need to get more consistent and get the middles hitting a little better.”
In the final match of the night, Liberty beat PikeView 25-21 and 25-19. The main issue Liberty head coach Denise Arline sees for her team is basically staying out of its own way.
“We hung with Greenbrier West the first set and played really well. Then we get in our own heads and that is exactly what happened. First set was great, second one was just OK,” Arline said. “Some of the matches that we have lost have been close. We had a close set with Shady (Spring) which is staying a lot. This team is a very talented bunch.”
If you take a look ate the season record for PikeView, the first thought is this season has been a mess. Truth be told, it kind of has been, but it’s not from a lack of effort and determination from the players.
The biggest problem for head coach Steve Compton’s crew has been the revolving door at the setter position.
“Three days before we started, we lost our starting setter. She quit,” Compton said. “We decided to run a 6-2 because our big girl, Haley Justice, has better hands than anybody on the team, but we needed her in the middle as well.”
The first set of our first match (of the year), Haley broke her hand,” Compton went on to say. “We had to start looking for setters again. We had another setter, who was also one of our middles, but two weeks ago, she quit. We haven’t had setters all year. Every week it was like we were changing players to find setters.”
The good news for the Panthers is Justice has been released and will be returning soon. The other good news is, the head coach has not lost faith in his team through the turmoil.
“It is so hard to get beat up and keep going, but these girls can play,” Compton said. “I am proud of the girls for hanging in there and fighting. I like the way we are playing.”
Liberty will travel to sectional rival Herbert Hoover Thursday, while PikeView plays at River View Wednesday.
Greenbrier West will host the Class A Coalfield Conference Tournament Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
