CHARLESTON — As far as Morgantown High is concerned, Friday’s first-round WVSSAC State Volleyball Tournament game against St. Albans didn’t really get underway until the third set.
Unfortunately for the Mohigans, that was a little too late for it to make a difference.
Despite capturing the third set of play, MHS fell 3-1 (25-9, 25-11, 25-21 MHS, 25-21) to the Red Dragons at the Charleston Civic Center, ending a season which saw the team earn sectional runner-up and co-regional champion honors.
“We’ve talked all year about starting off matches and we didn’t start off again,” head Nick Lusk said. “When you get to playing good things in this type of setting — I mean, it’s the state tournament — you can’t spot teams. We spotted them two sets.”
The Mohigans did all they could to beat themselves early, taking the floor with little excitement and struggling to put together passes. They dropped to an 18-4 deficit in the first set, and failed to improve on their start as St. Albans relentlessly trounced their opponent.
The third set, however, proved a different story, as MHS appeared a much different — and well-polished — team.
“I think we got our energy up and started doing what we normally do,” Lusk said. “We were swinging it, moving it better. I thought they battled well.”
The Mohigans jumped out to a 5-1 lead early in the third set, attacking swiftly and fiercely. St. Albans fought back and tie the score at 17-17, but faltered again as MHS finished on an 8-4 run to close the gap.
The momentum carried into the next set, where MHS likely gave St. Albans a scare as it quickly gained an 8-3 advantage to begin play. However, the effort proved too little for the Mohigans, as St. Albans stormed back to capture the lead before putting away a hard-fought set to secure the win.
“I was just proud of them and how they battled back,” Lusk said.
Lusk attributed the starting woes — a common problem for the Mohigans this season — to youth and inexperience. It’s a problem he believes that will work itself out as his underclassmen return with another season of experience under their belt.
“We’re young. Today, I started one freshman and one sophomore. It’s just inexperience. Even the seniors I have playing, there were only a couple that played a lot last year,” Lusk said. “The experience we gained from everyone else getting to play a lot this year — the freshman, the sophomores, the juniors — will help us in the offseason.”
