By Stephen Smoot
On a night in which Pendleton County celebrated its seniors, the entire team put together a powerful performance against the visiting team from Tucker County, sweeping them in three sets.
The team has worked to reload this year after reaching states in the past three, building consistency and integrating freshman talent among the seasoned veterans.
Tucker County opened the first set with a serve that landed in the net, giving Pendleton County the first point. The second came when Breena Bowers corralled a hit, setting up Carolyn Varner who lifted the ball in the air for Tia Heavner to complete the play.
Varner set up Heavner shortly thereafter for another strike to the middle to put the score at 3-1. Pendleton County took advantage of a somewhat passive approach by the Mountain Lions in set one. They tried to rely on playing defense and benefiting from Wildcat errors more than attacking the net, forcing the action, and making plays.
Meanwhile, the Wildcat front line played with both confidence and consistency in the opening set. Chesnee Colaw teamed up with Callie Judy to set up spikes first from Colbie Wimer, then Brynlynn Waggy to give Pendleton County their seventh and eighth points.
Waggy took over service with her team leading 9-4 and did not relinquish it until the team had opened up a 16-4 advantage, which included three aces. Alyssa Bennett took over the serve not long after and saw her attempt carom off a defender’s fists out of bounds. Set one ended 25-6.
Tucker County changed tactics for set two, playing with more aggression and forcing the action. They opened up a four to two lead early, but a Judy set for a Waggy spike tied it up shortly thereafter. A Judy ace and a Wimer spike off a Bowers set pushed the lead out to 7-4.
Playing with more aggression kept the Mountain Lions in the game. The Wildcats would open up leads of 10-6, 12-7, and even 15-8, but Tucker County kept clawing their way back to narrow margins. A six to two run brought them to within 17-14, but then the Wildcats shut the door.
Phoebe Pownell fired an ace to put the lead for her team at 19-14, then Pendleton County scored on a Waggy spike. Later Clara Raines took the serve and her ace gave her team a 23-15 advantage. On the next play, Raines took the shot from the opposition, sent it to Pownell, who lofted the ball high in the air. Bennett, almost ballet-like, glided in for a soft tap and a score.
The Wildcats took set two 25-15.
In the third set a Tucker County team playing for pride gave their best effort and earned their best outcome of the night, but that was not apparent at the start. Pendleton County rattled off a 10 to four run to open the game in commanding style, but then saw Tucker County enjoy a 10 to six run to pull within two at 16-14.
The Mountain Lions then fired a serve out of the back to gift Pendleton County a point and Bennett followed with an ace and four points of breathing room. Tucker County pulled within one at 20-19 and sought to steal the set.
Pendleton County righted the ship. Colaw got the ball to Varner, who gave a perfect set for a Wimer spike and a 21-19 slender reed of a lead. Wimer then took a Judy set for a precise tap to the middle.
The set ended on a spike by Waggy set up by Raines and Judy.
Pendleton County later in the week demonstrated their improvement on Thursday by avenging a loss from earlier in the season against Moorefield. They blanked the Yellow Jackets two sets to zero, but fell to Class AAA Hampshire County later during the same event.
Set scores in the Moorefield match were 25-14 and 25-20.
The Wildcats face the Mountain Lions again tonight at Tucker County. On Monday, Pendleton travels to Highland County, Virginia, and then hosts East Hardy on Tuesday. They go to Paw Paw on Oct. 16.
