Charleston – Last year Morgantown was one win away from winning the Class AAA state volleyball title.
Thursday afternoon inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, the Mohigans walked away as state champs.
Needing five sets to dethrone three-time defending champion Musselman, Morgantown won the first ever volleyball championship title in school history with a 15-9 win in the decisive set.
“This is the first title in school history. It is so exciting for us to stamp that in the history books for our program,” Morgantown head coach Erica Manor said. “We are heavy on seniors, so I am really happy to send them out in style.”
Morgantown started fast taking the first two sets (25-23 and 25-19) and appeared on its way to a clean sweep.
The defending champs had other ideas.
Flipping the momentum with big plays from Ada McCoy and Keleigh Chrisman, the Applemen took the next two sets to even the match (25-21 and 25-19).
Senior Kaitlyn Anderson gave the Mohigans the spark they needed in the final set with three kills to help build a 3-1 led that her team never relinquished.
“I am really proud of how we started. The first two sets we stuck to our plan of action,” Manor said. “The third and fourth sets really didn’t go in our favor, but we were able to come out on top in the fifth set. I am really proud of the energy.”
The lead was five when a pair of attacking errors brought Musselman back within striking distance.
Isabelle DeVall found an opening in the defense before blocks by Audrey Buck and Abigail Paulsen pushed the lead to six points.
“Momentum is very important, so I was very excited to we were able to collect on that early which helped in our success,” Manor said.
