Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charleston – A strong start to the 2023 state volleyball tournament for Beckley, Shady Spring and James Monroe came to an abrupt halt in the semifinal round Wednesday night.
After grabbing wins in the morning and afternoon sessions, the Flying Eagles, the Tigers and the Mavericks could not maintain the momentum.
The semifinal opponent for Beckley was No. 1-seed Morgantown and the Mohigans looked every bit the part.
Hitting the Flying Eagles hard right out of the gate, the ladies from Monongalia County cruised to a 3-0 win.
“They are consistent and they don’t have a lot of holes. When teams don’t have a lot of holes, we struggle a little bit,” Beckley head coach Bre Rhodes said. “They have a good block and they have big swings. They have aggressive serves and their aggressive serves we weren’t as prepared for in the first set and that shook everybody. It was kind of a downward spiral from there.”
Leading by as many as 11 in the first set, Morgantown took the opening set 25-16 before winning set two 25-19. Similar to the opening set, the Mohigans ran out to a 21-9 advantage en route to a 25-10 victory.
“They didn’t give up,” Rhodes said. “We have dug out of bigger holes before. I knew we could do it, but not against a team as consistent as Morgantown was tonight.”
While the ending was not what she wanted, Rhodes was happy with getting the opening round win and saw it as a building block for the future.
“II tried to let them know that it was not just the goal to get that first win. Things just crumbled a little bit for us unfortunately.,” Rhodes explained. “We have been one and done (at the state tournament) for a few years now. That shows a lot. I am losing three great seniors, but we have a big junior class coming up. We are looking to make some noise for sure next year. “
The Tigers battled a familiar state tournament foe in two-time defending state champion Philip Barbour.
Unfortunately for Shady Spring, the Colts once again had its number.
An opening set win (26-24) was followed by three straight setbacks mainly off the hands of Player of the Year candidate Mackenna Halfin who baffled Shady all night at the net.
“Emotions were a little high and we couldn’t get a block on Halfin,” Shady Spring head coach Brantlea Wood said. “It kind of deflated us. She was killing our defense. All the credit goes to her because she is a good hitter. It was her night.”
Shady fell behind in set two, 12-6, but battled back to tie the set at 23-23 on a kill from Rachel Mann and an ace from Haley Sweeney. It would unfortunately characterize the night where Shady would fight back within striking distance, but watch the set slip away in the end.
“I don’t think we played bad and they didn’t quit,” Wood said. “We would come back and go on runs. The (team) showed a lot of grit.”
Philip Barbour took set three 28-26 after the Tigers battled back to tie the match at 23-23 and closed out the match with a 25-18 win in set four.
James Monroe had a quick turnaround after a grueling five-set match with Greenbrier West less than three hours earlier.
The Mavericks held strong with two-time defending Class A state champion Wiliamstown, but each time ran out of gas at the end.
“We were right there and just couldn’t finish,” James Monroe head coach Julie Bradley said. “The match before against Greenbrier West was five sets and it is tough to do that in one night. We couldn’t get our legs under us.”
James Monroe dropped the first set 25-20, before losing the next two sets 25-21 each.
