Gallery by Heather Belcher
The marquee showdown of the volleyball tri-match in Beckley Thursday night was the clash between longtime Class AAA rivals Greenbrier East and Woodrow Wilson.
Somebody forgot to tell Class A Williamstown that it didn’t have a starring role.
While the match between the Flying Eagles and the Spartans lived up to marquee status, the Yellowjackets stole the show on the under-card with 2-1 wins over both AAA powers.
“The girls just work really hard. We had a comment from a team we played last week saying you could tell the girls love each other out there and they do. They work hard together. They cry together and they laugh together. They just want to be successful and they work hard to be successful,” Williamstown head coach Rachelle Cole said. “Some of the points tonight even surprised me. I am really pleased with their work tonight, It was a great night for them.”
Woodrow and East both entered their match a little on the angry side after frustrating losses to the visitors from Wood County.
However, when the whistle blew and the first serve was in the air, it was back to vintage Beckley versus East hysteria.
Olivia Ziolkowski fired up the raucous Beckley crowd with a kill and two resounding blocks to open the first set. However, East had no intentions of fading away into the Beckley night.
The first set would see 10 ties, the last of which came at 16-16 before things unraveled for East.
Sophomore Saira Diehl broke the tie with a kill before Elysia Salon dropped in a bomb from the back row. Diehl would add another kill and a huge block to spark her team to a 9-0 run and a 25-16 win.
“I think it was what we said to everybody,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Bre Rhodes said when asked about her young sophomores inspired play. “That first match against Williamstown was not what I wanted to see. We went back to the locker room and had a heart-to-heart talk, hoping it would light a fire in some of them and it definitely did.”
Set two belonged to the Spartans early racing out to a 15-6 lead. In what appeared to be a losing battle in set two, Woodrow Wilson turned to Salon to dig them out of the massive hole.
“My only thought was getting this ball in. One point at a time. I just focused on every play and every pass,” Salon said. “I just tried to help my teammates as much as possible. I leaned on them too.”
Three kills from Salon helped trim the lead to three points before East scored two straight for a 20-15 advantage.
“It is definitely nice to have somebody that you can count on, but the other girls didn’t let Elysia out-shine them,” Rhodes said. “They did their part when it was their turn and it was a team effort. I had already called two timeouts after six points, so they did it on their own at the end. There was nothing else I could do.”
Diehl stemmed the tide when she found an open spot deep in the backcourt. From there, the power of Salon and some big plays from Zamayha Moss sent the home team on an 8-0 run.
East fought back within one point, but a wide return and an ace from Lesleigh Ball gave Woodrow a 25-22 win.
“It was all night. It was with Williamstown too. We would have the lead late, maybe the first two-thirds of each set, when we played really aggressive. That is the biggest thing with us,” Greenbrier East head coach Matt Sauvage said. “When we backed off the pedal we got out of system. We have to stay aggressive and go after it, especially against good teams. Both of these teams tonight were really good. It’s just the inexperience we have at this point,”
After a disappointing effort against Williamstown, Rhodes was pleased with how her team bounced back.
“It is always a big win when you play Greenbrier East. Going into the sectionals you want to have those wins over sectional opponents for sure,” Rhodes said. “This has been a big week for us, especially going into our first tournament of the season this Saturday.”
After splitting the first two sets with Woodrow, Williamstown trailed 23-19 in the third set. As would be the case all night, the resilient Yellowjackets refused to give up. The Jackets stunned the Flying Eagles by closing on a 6-0 to win the third set, 25-23.
“They are a good team and they really keep the ball in play,” Rhodes said. “They kept the ball in play and let us make the mistakes. We made the mistakes.”
Williamstown also split the first two sets with the Spartans and trailed again in set three, 18-15. After battling through seven ties, the Jackets pulled away for a 26-24 win.
“We didn’t have any seniors last year and we made it to the state tournament. Then they told us we couldn’t go because our county was red,” Cole explained. “We returned everyone from that team, and we added two pretty good freshman into the mix. We have one of the hitters from tonight, Claire Strobl who just really grew as a player. She was our first middle tonight. She has surprised us this year and she is really coming along.”
Besides the wins, the night was memorable for the Williamstown crowd in another way.
“We have never played here. We have played Woodrow Wilson, but it has always been at a tournament. We see Greenbrier East at the showcase in Charleston, but they have done that for a couple of years,” Cole said. “Bre happened to send out an email wanting to know if anyone could come to this tri-match and I said we would. We are little, but we put up a good fight most of the time.”
