By Stephen Smoot
Every sports season in some ways resembles a puzzle. Sometimes the box flies open on a new season with the pieces set in place and little assembly to do. The task is such a season lies in keeping the pieces linked, rather than putting them together.
Sometimes the box opens and many of the key pieces did not come along with it. Then one puts the puzzle together as best as one can, knowing that the final result will remain incomplete.
The puzzle confronting Wildcat head volleyball coach Madison Day in her second season is this. She and her assistant, Hayley Craig, opened a box. All the pieces are there for a successful season, but the labor comes in figuring out how to put disparate pieces together for the desired result.
With a team building a new core of talented players, figuring out how they fit will take time.
The first set against the visitors from Bath County, Virginia started with the Chargers’ serve glancing off the hands of a Wildcat player and flying out of bounds. Pendleton County found itself quickly down 9-2, but Brynlynn Waggy blocked a play at the net to get her team a score and a serve.
Off a return on the serve by Callie Judy, Alyssa Bennett made a play at the net to put the score at 9-4. Much of the rest of the set saw Pendleton County keep within striking distance, but Bath holding the home team at arms’ length until it secured the first set 25-17.
In the second set, Bath jumped to an early 2-0 advantage, but the Wildcats struck back quickly. The team settled in and showed more of its passing and set up game in set two. Pendleton County’s first score came when Breena Bowers fielded a hit, got it to Carolyn Varner, who then set Kinsley Price up for a scoring shot to the middle.
The Chargers took a 3-1 lead when they spiked after a Chesnee Colaw serve, but then the ever-moving Breena Bowers corralled a shot, got it to Varner, who then gave Colbie Wimer a perfect set for a big spike.
Bowers then sent a serve over. On a return, Varner set up Waggy for a spike to knot the contest at three.
Pendleton County’s players hustled on the court all evening, diving after balls, sometimes falling into or onto each other in pursuit of a play. Most of the time, they demonstrated great spacing, but that was not always followed up by proper communication. As the game wore on, the Wildcats grew more comfortable sharing the ball and also more aggressive in plays at the net.
Consistency, however, remains the next step to master as this team combines new and old materials to construct the 2025 season.
For a time in the second set, the teams punched and counter-punched. After Bath spiked a shot to take a 7-6 lead, a Judy set brought forth a Wimer spike to set the game at a tie of sevens.
With the game tied at nine, Bennett put her team in the lead with an ace that flew straight and fast, only inches above the net and glanced off an opponent’s hands to fly out of bounds. Multiple players for the Wildcats showed dangerous serving ability during the game that challenged Bath’s defense.
Bath then took the next two scores and held the lead the rest of the set. It stayed close for a time. Varner at one point popped up a solid set to Bennett, who launched a vicious spike to the back line to tie the contest at 12.
A few serves later, Varner put the ball up to Wimer, whose shot tied the set at 14.
From here, however, Bath ground ahead on a series of home squad miscues which fueled a five to nothing run. The set ended with the same score as the previous one, 25-17.
Down two sets serves as pride check time. The chance of victory has almost slipped away, but the team still wants to show fight. The team ahead wants to nail down the win and get to the buses to head home.
The Chargers came out firing in set number three, scoring the first seven points to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. The score extended to 9-1 on an ace.
Then Varner set up Wimer for a precise tap to the sideline, getting the serve back. Two Bath violations helped Pendleton County get their second and third scores of the set. Next Colaw fielded a shot from Bath and got the ball to Judy, who then arced the ball to Waggy for a strong spike that pulled their team to a 10-4 disadvantage.
A few plays later, Wimer fired an ace to cut the lead to 11-6 and Waggy continued to assert herself at the net, blocking hits and spiking the ball. Waggy took over the serve down 12-8, but saw her team score for her when Judy set up Laney Bowers for a spike, followed by a Waggy ace that sliced the lead to only two.
Bath hit the ball into the net to tie the game at 12. Then Waggy scored an ace to lift her team into a 13-12 lead.
Not long after, Bath retook the lead with an ace to set the score at 15-14 in their favor. Then Varner blocked a Charger play at the net to tie the set at 16. A Wimer shot to the back line gave the Wildcats a slender 17-16 advantage.
Bath, however, settled in, made plays, and earned a 25-21 set and game victory.
As Pendleton County puts together the puzzle, the games will not always look pretty. That said, they displayed athletic ability, aggressiveness at the net and in serving, good team play and ball handling. In short, they have every bit of the same potential as teams of the past have carried into the season.
What they lack, and what they are trying to achieve, is that tough to define aspect of chemistry. When that settles in, players anticipate instead of react, they “know” how to move in sync with teammates to make plays and back each other up. This will bring confidence and focus that, when added together, form consistency.
Likely, it will be by next month instead of next season when that settles in. The process of watching a team take shape, build itself, and put itself into position to achieve big things will serve as part and parcel of the memories made as this team works its way back to being one of the top squads in the region.
The Wildcats are scheduled to host Tygarts Valley tonight and Pocahontas on Sept. 25.
