RAVENSWOOD — Williamstown won its second straight Little Kanawha Conference Championship Saturday in an all-day tournament at Ravenswood High School. In the first place game, the Yellow Jackets defeated Ritchie County 25-18, 25-21.
The tournament consists of two pools of four teams, with each team competing in a pool and then playing for 7th, 5th, 3rd, or 1st place depending on the results of the previous three matches. Ta. The final standings are: 1) Williamstown 2) Ritchie County 3) Clay County 4) Ravenswood 5) Gilmer County 6) Roane County 7) Tyler Consolidated 8) Doddridge County.
In the championship match, Ritchie County got off to a strong start, increasing their lead to five points at 10-5. The Rebels were able to take this lead thanks to a spectacular spike from Anna Roe and back-to-back aces from Sydney Kopshina.
Williamstown fought back with six straight points to take an 11-10 lead. Akia Miller hit a few key spikes that helped turn things around.
Both teams remained relatively even until around the 15-point mark, when the Yellow Jackets began to pull away. Kindra Johnson’s ace gave Williamstown a two-point lead at 17-15. Thanks to Claire Stroble’s impressive spikes and Miller’s spikes, the lead widened further. The Yellow Jackets won the first set 25-18.
Ray Rupert made a great spike in the second set to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead. But Williamstown scored four straight points to take the lead. Strobl blocked and spiked the same volley, then blocked again on the next volley. The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 8-4 on an ace by Keetin Haynes.
The Rebels fell behind at 13-7, six points, but managed to come back and catch up with 14 points. Kira Freimare hit two aces, and Jaycee Gray and Kopshina made clutch spikes to advance.
Richie Counts led 16-15. Haynes and Riley Landis hit the point well, but neither was enough to prevent Rebels’ Lacey Hilkey from spiking the deal.
Later in the set, Williamstown regained the lead and went up 3, 22-19. In a thrilling game that seemed to go back and forth forever, Ritchie County managed to narrow the gap to two points. Williamstown’s Becca Shamblin had three digs at the point and Rupert had two blocks for the Rebels.
After some great spikes from Miller and Landis, the Yellowjackets won the second set with a final score of 25-21, clinching their second consecutive LKC title.
Rebels head coach Michelle Jones was proud of her team’s performance throughout the day, despite falling just short in the final game. “Obviously you want to win everything, but Williamstown, thanks to them, they have a solid team. There are a lot of little things that we did. Unfortunately, we We set it up perfectly and they gave it back to us right away. All in all, I’m proud of my girls. They worked hard and didn’t quit. They I could have easily given up, so I’m happy with the overall result. I finished this morning’s pool play undefeated and only lost one set, so overall it was a good day. .”
Williamstown head coach Rachel Cole outlined her thoughts on the Yellowjackets’ performance throughout the tournament. “I thought we came out pretty strong this morning. We opened the day with a big win. We were focused all day on our speed and playing to our strengths, so offensively We wanted to continue to be competitive and control the tempo of the game, and I think they did that well. I think going into the finals, the matchup with Richie is always going to be a tough battle. They’re a really good program. But I think we just made fewer mistakes and the girls played really aggressive.”
Cole, who is looking forward to the postseason, stressed that Williamstown will embrace it. “It’s just one game at a time. Our conference is very competitive, but so is our section. So we could be in a situation where we see Richie again. We know they’re a good team. We can’t leave anyone out because we know. We have to prepare to play every day as if it’s our last so that doesn’t happen. Where this season takes us. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does and hoping for the best.”
Strobl echoed his coach’s thinking. “In the postseason, you just have to focus on the moment and each game because there’s a lot of good competition in our section and in our region as well. And we just have to focus one game at a time. I’m going to take it one game at a time.”
She put the team’s season in perspective and showed how far the Yellow Jackets have come in just a few short months. “We struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season, but in the last few weeks we’ve made the most of our work as a team, won a lot of games and performed very well, so I’m really proud of that. .Our team bond was really good.”
Regarding LKC’s second consecutive title win, Strobl said: “It feels really good. It’s fun to see more nameplates on the walls.”
Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com.