By Stephen Smoot
Pendleton County volleyball did not have much chance to enjoy their season opening win over Moorefield before taking on a set of heavyweight programs at a tournament in Frankfort last weekend.
The Wildcats defeated North Marion two sets to none, handling the winless double A school.
North Marion took the first score, tapping a Baylee Beachler serve to the middle of the floor. They gave up the lead just as quickly from an Avery Townsend spike.
Shortly after, Emma Hartman helped her team to tie the game again at two by outdueling an opponent at the net. Lizzie Alt then took the ball and served up two aces, followed by a spike set up by Emma Poling. On the next play, the Wildcats took a 6-2 lead when Poling set up an Alt spike.
Alyssa Bennett’s soft tap to the middle a little later gave her team a 9-3 advantage. Hartman helped to build on that shortly thereafter with two consecutive aces to build an eight point lead at 12-4.
Pendleton County maintained a commanding lead for the rest of the set. Bennett scored an ace to push the lead to 16-6. The very next play Beachler had another score negated by a call, which motivated the senior into an even more aggressive approach. She uncorked a vicious spike two serves later to give the Wildcats a 18-7 advantage, then followed that with an ace.
The Wildcats did not relent as the set came to a close. Beachler got the 24th point by hammering a spike to the back line, then softly tapped the ball over the net for the final score and the set victory.
North Marion’s Lady Huskies showed a little more bite in the second set. In the tournament format, the set series run in a best of three instead of best of five. Also at Frankfort, two games ran side by side simultaneously, which sometimes creates confusion when whistles from different games blow or players are unfamiliar with the configuration of the lines when playing perpendicular to the basketball court.
Beachler started the second set as she ended the first, with a dominant play, spiking the ball at the middle of the net. Pendleton County raced out to an 11-5 advantage through solid serving and plays at the net, but then North Marion used Wildcat errors to score four straight in the middle of a 10 to two run to seize a two point lead.
Pendleton County knotted the score at 15, then Beachler took over the serve. As she continued to send the ball across, her teammates made big plays to take back momentum. Alt had two redirected shots while Townsend fired a spike. Then, Townsend set up Alt for a return that caromed off a defender’s fist for a 21-16 score.
Alt then took the serve with the score 21-18 and scored two aces on the way to a set and a game victory.
In other action last Saturday, Pendleton County also took on double A Frankfort and also Buffalo, the powerhouse that the Wildcats upset as a first seed in the state tournament last year. This serves as part of head coach Madison Day’s aggressive scheduling to expose her team to the best competition in the state. Pendleton County fell to both teams.
