In the past two years, the Paw Paw Pirates have proved a difficult out for Pendleton County volleyball. Last season, the Pirates featured an incredibly gifted athlete who worked hard to tie the Wildcat juggernaut into knots. This season, Paw Paw has a squad with no standouts, but solid team play.
The Pirates took the first point in the first set and repeated that feat in each of the three played. After Paw Paw went up 2-0 in set one, Chesnee Colaw set up an Alyssa Bennett spike to get the first score for the Wildcats.
Not long after, Paw Paw had gone up 5-3. On their serve, Colaw popped up a ball that was delivered to the net. The Pirates failed to get much on the return and Tia Heavner tapped the ball back to pull her team within one.
Colaw helped her team secure the lead again when she came to serve down 7-6. A Colbie Wimer spike tied up the score, but Paw Paw wrested the serve back not long after. Then Colaw received the ball, passed to Phoebe Pownell, who then set up a Wimer spike and a 9-8 advantage.
The Wildcats moved out to a 13-9 lead, but the Pirates stayed with the home team. Paw Paw does not play aggressively at the net this season, but has developed discipline and patience with the ball, setting up front-line players and sustaining volleys. They make fewer mistakes on their end than in previous years, showing tremendous improvement in especially the last two seasons.
The Pirates got within one at 15-14, but Katie Heavner set up Ava Bowers for a scoring strike. Pownell took the serve and coolly scored an ace to push to a three-point lead. Four points in a row from the visitors put the Wildcats behind 18-17.
Katie Heavner then set the ball to Kinsley Price for a spike and a 19-18 lead. They maintained that slender margin until the end of the set, when Bennett closed it out with an ace.
Set number two saw Pendleton County down 1-0, but Colaw fired a hit to the middle, getting both the first score and the serve. A few plays later, Bennett’s ace put her team up 3-2. Paw Paw then outscored the Wildcats and gained a 7-4 lead.
Pendleton County committed some errors during the game, but none came from a lack of effort. After a Pownell ace set the score at 8-5, visitors’ advantage, a Bowers diving effort extended a volley that concluded with a Wimer spike.
The Wildcats ground away at the lead, with an ace by Vaylee Harper pulling her team within 9-8. She then fired her next serve to the top edge of the net, where it fell straight down for another ace to knot the game at nine. Pownell set up Price for a spike to take the lead in the set 10-9.
Paw Paw pushed hard, tying the set multiple times only to see Pendleton County pull ahead again. The final tie came at 17. On the next serve, Pownell served an ace gently off a Pirate’s face and the Wildcats took the lead. She then set up Harper for a spike and a 19-17 lead.
Victory in the set came with two consecutive Tia Heavner aces.
As the game progressed, Pendleton County played with added confidence. Sets and spikes grew more polished and precise while the team gradually played with more aggression. With a number of young players earning time on the floor, chemistry is developing as the team improves.
Down 1-0 in set three, the Wildcats tied the score as Pownell set up a Bennett spike. Katie Heavner then assumed the serve and earned a hat trick of aces to set the score at 4-1. Bennett received the serve shortly thereafter up 6-3 and scored two aces. Katie Heavner then lifted the ball to Bennett for a spike and a 9-3 lead.
Unlike the previous two sets, Paw Paw allowed Pendleton County to find its rhythm. Intimidating straight-on serves and more precise sets for shots to the other side allowed the home team to build a big lead.
Colaw enjoyed a remarkable run serving in the middle of the set. She took over up 13-8. Two serves later, Pownell set up a hard shot by Bennett. Colaw then racked up five consecutive aces.
Harper served at the close of the game, sending the ball over four times. Two spikes by Bennett and Wimer, a tap by Bennett, and a set-finishing ace by Harper concluded a three sets to none win. Paw Paw earned respect, but not the win on this day.
Last weekend, Pendleton County entered the land of the giants, so to speak. In non-league tournament action during tournaments hosted by Musselman and Hedgesville, they dropped games to Musselman, Hampshire, Washington, and Martinsburg. Almost every team outside of the Wildcats came from Class AAA and Class AAAA.
The Wildcats traveled to Bath County on Monday, hosted Tygarts Valley on Tuesday, and face Hampshire and Moorefield in a tournament today at Moorefield.
