CHARLESTON – Williamstown knew it faced a tough battle against Ritchie County’s size up front in Saturday’s Class A Volleyball state championship match.
In order to defeat the No. 1 ranked Rebels, the Yellowjackets would need to stay clean on their side of the net.
Fending off 30 kills from Ritchie junior hitter Rebekah Rupert, Williamstown captured the state title 3-1 in the best-of-five showdown.
In the opening set, a state title looked out of reach for the Yellowjackets who committed 11 unforced errors in a 25-19 loss.
However, Williamstown looked like a completely different team over the next three sets.
“We lost the first one and they were let down a little bit. I told them we had done this a million times,” Williamstown head coach Rachelle Cole said. “We just had to push through it.”
Slowing down the Rebels did look promising when Rupert helped build a 6-1 lead with three kills and a block early in set two.
“We just talked to them about it being a high stakes game. It is a little different when you come in and have never played a team before. We played Ritchie four times,” Cole explained. “You know what they are going to do and you know what it takes to beat them. We just needed to focus on that. We knew if we played our game, we are going to be OK.”
Williamstown fought back to tie the set at 10-apiece, only to see Ritchie respond with an 8-2 run.
Needing a quick response in order to not go down 2-0 in the match, the Jackets lost a key starter for a brief period due to an injury. The injury became a rallying cry for Williamstown.
“When our starter got hurt, we had to pool. We brought Gabby West in and that was the first time she was on the state (tournament) floor,” Cole said. “She didn’t make a mistake. She kept her composure and she played great. It helped push us into set three. Her stepping up and the team rallying around her to win set two was what pushed us over the edge.”
Trailing 24-21, the Jackets fended off two set points with a kill from Lakyn Joy and an attacking error by the Rebels. Facing a third set point, Riah Sprouse responded with two kills and a block to give Williamstown a 27-25 win.
Rupert had 12 kills and a block in the set.
Williamstown won set three with ease, 25-13. The deciding set was close at 26-24, but the Jackets never trailed to secure the win. Jillian Modesitt’s ace on her final high school serve sent the Jackets home as state champions.
Over the final three sets, Williamstown committed just 12 more unforced errors.
“The girls have had this desire all season, but we didn’t want to talk about it and jinks it. After not losing any seniors last year, we had such a solid group this year with our seniors that we knew we could do it. They fed off each other and kept each other calm and in the game,” Cole said.