Charleston – Success at the state tournament had not been on the side of the Greenbrier Wests girls volleyball team over the years.
More than 20 years has passed since the Cavaliers made an appearance in the semifinal round of the big dance and they have never played for a state title.
Turns out all they needed was change of venue.
Normally played inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, the Class A portion of the 2024 event was delayed due to court litigation. The tournament was eventually moved to Dec. 2-3 and played on the campus of West Virginia State University.
Inside the Walker Convocation Center, the No. 2 seed Cavaliers picked up and quarterfinal win over No. 7 seed River View, before sweeping No. 3 seed Wirt County in the semifinals.
Greenbrier West will now play for the Class A State Volleyball Championship Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. against top-seeded East Hardy.
“I’m extremely emotional. This is like mind blowing,” senior first team all-stater Preslee Treadway said. “It is the best feeling knowing that all of the work we are putting in is showing.”
The semifinal showdown with the Tigers pitted the Cavaliers against Wirt’s excellent outside hitter Addie Stephens. The first-team all-state captain had riddled Sherman earlier in the afternoon with 25 kills to help her team earn a spot in the semifinals.
“They are a really good team and they played really good. (Stephens) is just one of the best players in any class. We were focused on her obviously,” Greenbrier West head coach Joe Robertson said. “I thought Meghan did an good job there in the hot spot on the back row, digging those balls. Preslee made some good blocks on her too.”
As expected, every set was a back-and-forth grinder that went to the wire before a winner was decided.
The opening set featured 11 ties before Greenbrier West made the final decisive plays.
After a kill from freshman Prestlie Shrewsberry tied the set for the final time, Treadway recorded a huge block on Stephens for the go-ahead score. An attack error by the Tigers and an ace from Paige Dean gave the Cavaliers a three-point lead. The set was closed out by a kill from Ava Price for a 25-23 win.
Used primarily as an outside hitter over her first three years of high school, Treadway’s willingness to switch to the middle moved the Cavaliers to another level midway through the season.
“I definitely never knew I would like playing middle, but here I am,” Treadway said, smiling. “I have always been an outside, but you never know.”
Robertson talked about Treadway’s impact on the team after moving to the middle.
“Most teams put their best hitters outside,” Robertson said. “That is where Wirt put their hitter. We needed that presence in the middle. I knew she would hit good there, but her blocking has been so good there. You saw her a couple of times come flying across to make those blocks. She had a couple of big ones.”
“That was our plan to put her on their big hitter,” Robertson went on to say. “Her and Paige have been a good duo their in the middle and both play great defense in the back. That has allowed us to let our two freshman play outside and just focus on hitting. That has helped them get better.”
Greenbrier West appeared to be running away with set two, but on this night, nothing was going to come easy.
Leading 13-6, the Cavaliers could not stop Wirt who exploded on a 16-4 run to take a 22-17 advantage.
“I called timeout and told them that we had to score eight points before they scored three,” Robertson said. “We came out and we did it. They didn’t give up. They came out and fought, made some great plays, some amazing diving plays and digs. We had some lucky plays and did some dumb things, but they are still 17 and 18 year old girls. The seniors stepped up. Paige stepped up and Meghan made some big plays. It was just a good team effort. They all played hard and never gave up.”
Treadway was right in the middle of the comeback with Griffith, who was also a first-team all-state selection. The senior middle recorded two kills and a block, while Griffith served a pair of aces, giving West a 23-22 advantage.
A service error out of a timeout tied the match, but back-to-back attacking errors by the Tigers gave West another 25-23 win.
“We made some good plays and we made some bad plays. Our serves need cleaned up. Without the serve (errors), those sets aren’t quite as close,” Robertson said. “We will take a win anyway we can get it. We will need to play better tomorrow. We played better in this match than we did in the first one today. I think we will play better tomorrow.”
Getting to the championship match involved one more victory Monday night in set three.
The ladies from Charmco led early, but as expected, Wirt County battled back. The lead bounced back and forth and the set stood at 20-20 when West again came up big in crunch time.
An attacking error by the Tigers and an ace from Treadway gave West some breathing room before Dean dropped the final hammer. The second-team all-state selection recorded three kills, including the game winner for a 25-22 win.
“Definitely momentum. Once we get the momentum, we are hard to stop,” Treadway said about how her team carried through, “A few times we got down and got in our heads, but we have a great team and coaches to get us out of it. They tell us we are fine and do this or do that. We get out of our heads and play like we should. We worked together tonight.”
River View who was making the first state volleyball tournament appearance in school history when it matched up with Greenbrier West.
The Raiders did not appear phased by the big stage, running out to an early four-point lead, holding their own with the Cavaliers.
Greenbrier West shook off the slow start and chipped away at the lead before overtaking River View on a net violation for a 14-13 advantage.
A three-point surge put the Raiders back on top, but the Cavaliers flexed their muscle and went on an 11-2 run, winning the opening set 25-18.
The second set was all Greenbrier West who never trailed in a 25-7 win. A kill by Price and a pair of aces from Griffith broke open a 3-3 tie and sent West on a 22-4 run.
Set three was a tight battle with Greenbrier West never leading by more than four points. River View twice trimmed the lead back to one point down the stretch, but could never overtake the Cavaliers who won 25-21 to complete the sweep.
Treadway led Greenbrier West with 14 kills, while Dean, Shrewsberry and Price had four kills each. Maddie Sweet tallied 23 assists. Griffith had 11 digs and Dean had 10 digs.
