MADISON – Top-seed Wayne and second-seed Scott advanced to the winner’s bracket of the Class AA Region IV Section II volleyball tournament Saturday afternoon at Scott High School.
The Pioneers defeated Chapmanville in straight sets. The Tigers started the tournament with a five-set victory over county rival Logan.
Scott rallied from two sets down to defeat Mingo Central in a thrilling five-set victory.
Chapmanville 3, Logan 2: Chapmanville defeated Logan 25-18, 23-25, 25-8, 23-25 and 15-9 to open sectional tournament action Saturday morning at Scott High School.
“Logan has improved a lot this season and I really didn’t expect it to go five games, but I am glad that we pulled it out,” Chapmanville coach Paula Thomas said. “My girls don’t give up and we played good solid ball.”
Chapmanville improved to 9-14 with the win while Logan fell to 2-30 with the defeat.
“They had their moments, they had their goods and bads, but I just hated the outcome,” Logan coach Alice Hensley said. “We were in all five sets, it was back and forth, but I was hoping for a different outcome. It is what it is and we just got to back to the drawing board on Monday.”
Logan will face Mingo Central Monday in an elimination contest at Madison Middle School at 5:30 p.m.
“We have been in each set with them, but then again it depends on how the attitudes go in those sets that will determine the outcome,” Hensley said. “We will see come Monday, but we just got to take it one set a time.”
Scott 3, Mingo Central 2: Mingo Central took the first two sets, but Scott rallied for a thrilling three set victory over the Miners.
Mingo Central won the first two sets, 27-25 and 25-17, but Scott rallied to take the next two sets, 25-18 and 25-23, to force a fifth-set tiebreaker.
“We came out hot the first two sets,” Mingo Central coach Amanda Lovern said. “It was just a match game, we tried to capitalize on their mistakes, and they tried to capitalize on ours
Scott finished the comeback with a thrilling 15-10 fifth set victory.
“We made few adjustments in the third set and mixed our lineup up a little,” Scott coach Liz Underwood said. “We told them to just play their game and quit playing their game.”
Scott improves to 21-11 and will face Wayne Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Scott High School in a winner’s bracket contest. The winner will advance to the sectional championship and be guaranteed a berth in next week’s regional tournament.
“We got a tough one against Wayne Monday,” Underwood said. “We are trying to get a path to the regional so hopefully we can make it.”
Mingo Central drops to 13-12 and will face Logan in an elimination game Monday.
“We played Logan four times this year and came out with a win each time,” Lovern said. “Watching their (Logan) first game with Chapmanville showed that they are fighters, they are scrapy and we are going to have to come out and play.”
Wayne 3, Chapmanville 0: Wayne advanced to Monday’s winner’s bracket with a straight sets victory, 25-17, 25-17 and 25-17, over Chapmanville.
“We still got some things to work on,” Wayne coach Kevin Maynard said. “These girls play hard so I have no complaints about that.”
Gabby Elliott, who was recognized as MaxPreps Player of the Week for West Virginia, registered her 300th kill of the season in the victory.
“She is just a sophomore, and she plays big,” Maynard said. “We are really proud of her.”
Chapmanville (9-15), who defeated Logan Saturday morning to advance, will now await the winner of Monday’s elimination contest between Logan and Mingo Central.
“We were the only team that played two matches today and I think that was a disadvantage,” Chapmanville coach Paula Thomas said. “We will come back fresh Monday and be ready to play”
Wayne improved to 21-15 with the win and will face Scott Monday at Scott High School. The winner of Monday’s match will advance to Tuesday’s sectional championship match where they will have to be defeated twice for the championship.
“Scott was impressive, the girls didn’t quit, and we knew that they had a good team,” Maynard said. “It’s a huge advantage and with most of these girls it’s about confidence and keeping that energy level and keeping the confidence so a win Monday would be huge.”
