Greenbrier West head coach Joe Robertson made no bones about it to his team prior to the 2024 high school volleyball season.
No girls team, in any sport, at Greenbrier West High School had won a state championship in the 56 years of existence.
Robertson was convinced his team could be the first.
Tuesday afternoon, inside the Walker Convocation Center on the campus of West Virginia State University, the Lady Cavaliers cashed in on those prophetic words.
After dropping the first set, No. 2 seed Greenbrier West won the next three sets to defeat No. 1 East Hardy for the Class A State Volleyball Championship.
“That was our goal from back in May when we were doing workouts a couple of days per week. We talked about it all along. I made a tough schedule to get us ready for these type of games,” Robertson said. “If you look at our schedule, we played tough teams up and down it. We went to some big tournaments. We played teams like (Herbert) Hoover, Greenbrier East and Woodrow Wilson. We weren’t playing teams that were not very good. I made that schedule to get us ready for this moment and I think it paid off.”
The Cougars started fast in the opening set building a 7-2 lead before the Cavaliers came storming back to take a 15-13 advantage.
Just when things looked good for the ladies from Charmco, the wheels came off and East Hardy ran off six straight points. A pair of kills and a block from first-team all-state selection Morganne Miller paved the way and led to a 25-17 win.
It was the first dropped set of the state tournament for Greenbrier West.
“I was hoping to keep that (unbeaten streak) going,” Robertson said. “We played good and then East Hardy got on a run there late, but we came back and made it close. I told them, let’s take the momentum and turn it around right here. We are not going to give in.”
Set two featured 10 ties and seven lead changes, but once again, the Cougars started to pull away late. With the set tied 15-15, East Hardy went on a 7-2 run and appeared to have West on the ropes.
In an odd way, the Cavaliers had the set right where they wanted it to be.
Trailing by the same score in the semifinal showdown with Wirt County Monday night, where West rallied for the win, Greenbrier West once again pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
“We have a very dynamic team. We are able to read each other when we are down and build each other back up,” senior Paige Dean said. “We are very lucky to have a close knit team that is able to do that.”
A kill and an ace from Dean was followed by a block and a kill from senior Preslee Treadway to cut the lead back to one point.
A kill from Miller stopped the Cavalier momentum, but only briefly.
Treadway restored order with a blast and that, along with three errors by the Cougars, lifted West to a 25-23 win, evening the match.
“It seems we have a habit of that,” Robertson said about falling behind and rebounding. “It would be a lot easier on me if we wouldn’t do it that way. Might be easier on my blood pressure. We just don’t quit though. These girls don’t give up.”
The decisive third set was controlled by Greenbrier West which built a six-point lead at one point and held a 23-18 advantage before the Cougars roared back to tie the score.
Once again when momentum appeared to have abandoned the Cavaliers, they answered the bell. A tip from Maddie Sweet found an open spot in the East Hardy defense. Prestlie Shrewsberry then served up an ace to give West another, 25-23 win.
Just a freshman, Shrewsberry served a pair of aces Tuesday and recorded six kills, all seeming to come at crucial moments in the contest.
“I never that thought that I would be on varsity as a freshman,” an emotional Shrewsberry said after the win. “I thought I was going to have to wait until my junior or senior year. I am a freshman, I am out here and this is amazing.”
Robertson was high on Shrewsberry and fellow-freshman Kaylee Martin prior to the season. He also liked the fact that they would have Treadway to spur them along.
“Preslee is a big help and an inspiration to me. She is big dog and I am little dog,” Shrewsberry said. “She teaches me and if she sees me doing something wrong, she shows me how to fix it. My (assistant) coach Amanda (Church) is amazing. Anytime that I get down on myself, she is always telling me it is OK and just get the next one.”
For her part, Treadway had been impressed with the young freshmen from the start.
“I am going to be honest, those freshmen came in extremely talented. They play a major role on offense, defense, everything. Keeping them hype is where it is at,” Treadway said. “I know I say that a lot, but you have to stay up to win games. If they do get down, we are right there getting them on fire again.”
While she did her part to keep her teammates positive from a mental standpoint, Treadway was also the one leading the charge vocally at key moments in the match.
“She is our emotional leader and I think some of the freshmen are a little scared of her sometimes. She is so intense and emotional. She doesn’t hold anything back,” Robertson said. “You know where she stands. She hates to lose. If she has to dive through the scoring table to make play, she will do it. She expects everyone to do the same thing if they are out there with her.”
The final set was a toe-to-toe slugfest that had 19 ties and nine lead changes, with West yearning for the title and East Hardy doing all it could to stay alive for a fifth set.
A kill from Martin gave the Cavaliers a 24-23 lead, but a pair of kills from Madison Kerr flipped the lead back to the Cougars.
Unfortunately for the Hardy County girls, the last of eight serving errors in the final set, tied the match for the final time.
An attacking error by the Cougars set the stage for the historic win.
Brooklyn Adkins’ well placed serve forced a free ball back to the Cavaliers. Treadway passed the ball forward to Maddie Sweet who made the set to Dean.
The rest was history.
After nailing the winning kill Monday night to send West to the championship match, Dean was money once again in the biggest moment, sending her team to a 27-25 win.
“I am feeling extremely excited right now. We have worked all season for this and we battled through everything that was put in front of us. I am really, really proud and thankful for the team that we have,” Dean said. “It shows me that the team trusts me with the game. I love these girls and they are my family. I love that trust.”
Treadway and Dean were named to the all-tournament team, along with Miller and teammate Addison Armentrout. The team also included Addie Stephens and Breigyn Dawson from Wirt County, as well as Elizabeth Alt and Baylee Beachler from Pendleton County.
The 2024 volleyball team will now live forever inside the halls of the school they represented so well Tuesday afternoon.
“My freshman year, Meghan and I always said our pictures are going to be on the wall,” Treadway said. “Now that our pictures are actually going to be on the wall, it’s amazing and kind of crazy.”
