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SPORTS
Timberwolves get even with HHS
Spring Valley celebrate a point during a match against Huntington High in the double-elimination volleyball tournament at Cabell Midland on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.
Purchase this photoONA — Spring Valley High School’s volleyball team didn’t need long to get over Saturday’s loss to Huntington High in the Mountain State Athletic Conference Tournament at Riverside High School.
The Timberwolves and Highlanders got back at it Monday night in the West Virginia Class AAA Region IV, Section 1 tournament at Cabell Midland High School and Spring Valley got even with Huntington High with a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-14, 24-11).
“Everything that could go wrong did,” Timberwolves coach Joy Bailey said of losses to Huntington High and Parkersburg in the MSAC tournament. “Serves and passing were poor. Film helped. We were much better in both tonight.”
Spring Valley, ranked No. 1 in Class AAA and No. 1 seed in the sectional, meets No. 2 seed Cabell Midland in a winner’s bracket match at 6 p.m., Tuesday. No. 3 Huntington High and No. 4 Hurricane play at the same time in the loser’s bracket with the winner advancing and the loser eliminated.
Cabell Midland and Hurricane scored 3-0 wins over No. 5 Lincoln County to end the season for the Panthers.
The top two teams in the sectional advance to the regional tournament Saturday at Spring Valley.
Spring Valley used quick starts and scoring bursts to take down the Highlanders. In game one, the teams were tied 8-8 and after a timeout, the Timberwolves pulled away. In game two, they opened a quick 6-1 lead and in game three they charged out to a 10-0 advantage.
“Sprint, grind and finish,” Bailey said. “Momentum is a big thing.”
Senior Sarah Burns said her teammates had a little chat after Saturday’s setbacks. The Timberwolves entered the MSAC tournament unbeaten.
“We talked about what we had to do,” she said. “We couldn’t wait for Monday. It (losses) took a little of the pressure off. Better to lose before than now. All phases of the game were better tonight.”
“We were not getting up,” Bailey said. “We were playing well enough to win. That catches up to you.”
Huntington High coach Darren Woody said the quick Spring Valley starts made it tough on the Highlanders, who posted a 3-1 win over Hurricane in their first match.
“It was a game of spurts and we got behind,” he said. “We had things go wrong in different facets of the game. They’re No. 1 in the state. We have to play to their level or higher. That’s what we did Saturday. They’ve got to make the mistakes. We’ll see how much heart we have now.”
Cabell Midland coach Cindy Machmer didn’t let up against Lincoln County.
“I told them we had to stay strong the entire match,” she said. “Think of this team as any other team.”
Tabitha Bias (16 points) and Haley Pauley led the Knights.
“We’re lucky to have a well rounded team,” Machmer said. “We’ve got some good freshmen and they give us depth. We can sub in each spot.”
Playing just one match Monday helped, too.
“It’s a plus. Anytime it’s best 3 of 5 the seeding is huge,” Machmer said. “Anybody could take this.”
