Gallery by Karen Akers
There was no denying that things looked a little different Saturday inside the Woodrow Wilson gymnasium.
Normally bursting at the seams with volleyball teams, parents and fans, the annual Shirley Brown Invitational was a mere shadow of itself.
While the crowds and the number of teams involved were smaller, the action on the floor was just as fiery as in the previous years.
Dwindled from the normal 12-team format down to four, the event still featured three of the state’s best volleyball programs in Woodrow Wilson, Shady Spring and George Washington. South Charleston rounded out the field.
Defending Class AA state champion Shady Spring and last year’s Class AAA runner-up, George Washington electrified the building in their opening clash.
The Tigers started quick, but the big hitting Patriots stormed back to take the first set, 25-21.
The opening set would be the only one that Shady dropped on the day.
Although the next two sets looked like a heavyweight slugfest, the Tigers stood tall taking each set by the score of 25-23.
“Shady Spring is a good team. They have tough serves and hitters that keep you off balance,” George Washington’s five-time state champion coach Missy Smith said.
While the Tigers and the Patriots were slugging it out, Woodrow Wilson was taking down South Charleston in two sets on the opposite court. The Flying Eagles dominated the first set winning 25-12. The Black Eagles, however, looked much better in set two and briefly led late in the set. Woodrow would settle down and rally for a 25-22 win.
“The good thing today was that the team did not get down on themselves,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Bre Rhodes said. “Most of today was just mental for us. Once we called timeouts and regrouped, we got back on track.”
The clash between the Raleigh County schools highlighted the second round. After a grinding match with George Washington, instead of being tired, Shady seemed to carry that momentum into round two.
The Tigers knocked off Woodrow Wilson, 25-13 before taking set two, 25-21. Shady rounded out the day beating South Charleston 25-7 and 25-11.
“Today I saw girls that didn’t quit. They can get down, but you don’t knock them out,” Shady Spring head coach Kelly Williams said. “They will play to the last whistle and give it everything that they have. They played with a lot of team spirit today.”
The Tigers received their normal solid performances from Kelsey Dangerfield, Chloe Thompson and Peydon Smith, but Shady also benefited from the play of some younger players pressed into service due to injuries and quarantine.
“When you are thrown into a situation where you might not feel that you are ready, but you come out and perform like they did today, it speaks volumes about the work they are putting in at practice,” Williams said. “The fact is the girls trust them enough to be on the floor and do their job. Practice is where all of that begins. That is what we train them to do, and they are ready when they come in.”
The final round of the day featured old rivals George Washington and Woodrow Wilson.
While Woodrow was battling Shady, the Patriots were dispatching sectional foe South Charleston. In the match with the Black Eagles, the Patriots seemed to find their groove and it carried over to the match with the Flying Eagles.
Powered by their powerful front line, George Washington beat Woodrow, 25-12 and 25-17.
“I liked our no quit mentality today. Even in the first match against Shady Spring when we were down early, we kept fighting and each set was close. I did like that,” Smith said. “We have always been fortunate enough to have good hitters and our front line leads us a lot. If our defense can control the first ball and we have all our hitters available to set, it makes us very difficult to defend.”
While Smith was happy with her team’s play overall, there were areas she feels will need some attention, as could be expected this time of year.
“I felt like we took some plays off today and I don’t like that. You can’t do that against any team. That is something we need to work on in practice,” Smith said. “There were some timing and tempo issue, but with this being opening day, I was pretty happy with that. I feel like the more we play, the better we will get.”
Fielding a young team and filling gaps left by five seniors from last year, Rhodes knew before the season started there would be some growing pains.
“Today was a good start. We don’t want to be up top, on fire and running from the start,” Rhodes said. “We are ready for next week where we will come in and re-evaluate some things. We will watch some film and maybe change some things up and go from there.”
While she feels adjustments need to be made, Rhodes is convinced her team has the talent to be a state tournament contender.
Assistant coach, and namesake for the tournament, Shirley Brown, explained Woodrow Wilson’s team this way.
“Our team is like a picture puzzle right now,” Brown said. “All the pieces are there; it is just a matter of getting the puzzle pieces to fit together as a team. Then you will see some strong play.”
