LOGAN – Wayne’s Gabby Elliott continues to make a name for herself nationally on the high school volleyball scene.
Elliott, a sophomore, recorded a season-high 13 aces to move into 14th place nationally on MaxPreps Volleyball statistics leaderboard.
Elliott now has 144 aces on the season and is just four aces shy of cracking the top 10. Elliott will get her shot at the top 10 Saturday when the Pioneers open sectional tournament.
“I have worked hard for this,” Elliott said. “I have spent long hours in the gym practicing on my serve.”
Elliott and her teammates overcame a sluggish first set to defeat Logan in three straight sets, 25-20, 25-12 and 25-13, on Thursday night at Willie Akers Arena.
“I couldn’t have done this without my teammates,” Elliott said. “They are very important and I couldn’t have done anything without them.”
Logan came out strong to start the first set jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead before Wayne reeled off 11-of-the-next-13 points to take an 11-7 lead. The Wildcats would respond with a 7-2 run to take a 14-13 lead and led 18-15 before the Pioneers took control of the first set with eight unanswered to take a 23-18 lead.
“We tried some different things, some different rotations in that first set to get ready for the sectionals,” Wayne coach Kevin Maynard said.
The second set started much like the first with Logan getting off to a quick start, but Wayne answered with seven straight points, breaking an 8-8 tie, to take control of the second set to win going away 25-12.
“Just too many mistakes,” Logan coach Alice Hensley said. “These girls make a mistake and get down on themselves, and you can’t get down in this sport you have to stay upbeat.”
Wayne came out and established dominance in the third set, scoring eight straight points and 15-of-the-first-20 points, on its way to a 25-13 third set victory.
“Wayne is a good team,” Hensley said. “When the season ends their girls go and play club ball where mine move into another sport.”
Wayne improves to 20-15 and will now sets its sights on Saturday’s Class AA Region IV Section II tournament at Scott High School.
The Pioneers, who have lost 15 games primarily to Class AAA schools and the state’s best Class AA and Class A schools, are the top seed and received a first-round bye in the five-team double elimination tournament. Wayne will face either Chapmanville or Logan at approximately 12 p.m.
Chapmanville and Logan will meet at 9 a.m. while second-seeded Scott meets third-seed Mingo Central at 10:30 a.m.
The Wildcats are 0-3 against the Tigers this season and have lost six-of-seven sets.
“We have been in the sets with them, but we make one mistake, and we get down on ourselves,” Hensley said. “We just got to stay up and come out and play Saturday morning, and show Chapmanville what we are made of.”
Wayne went 8-0 against sectional competition, winning 19-of-20 sets, but Maynard knows his team will have to play its best to advance.
“We play a lot of Triple-A schools just to get ready for sectionals and hopefully regionals,” Maynard said. “We have had some tough games with Scott and Mingo, and both of those schools are pretty good fundamental teams.”
