MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The night belonged to Alayna Corwin. Behind her leadership and on-point attack, Morgantown (11-7) defeated Parkersburg South (4-5) in three sets 30-28, 25-21 and 25-19.
“My connection with my setter Brooke (Lyons) was really good tonight,” Corwin said. “Our passes were there with our defense. Our back line – Asia (Halbritter) and Mahalie (Moser) – they were on fire tonight. That was really important to get a good pass and set so I could rip away, hopefully beat the block and get some points.”
From the start, Parkersburg South looked like a brand new team than the group in Morgantown’s season debut, proving an unstoppable force through the first half of Set 1 to take a 17-10 lead. Morgantown fought back to cut the deficit to three at South’s first timeout, however, and after a few blunders by the Patriots the set was knotted at 19.
The groups exchanged points through the next 10 series, but Morgantown took the lead at 29-28 and served into a high pass from Lauren Somerville to Reagan Nutter who sent it sailing out of bounds, giving MHS the set.
“I think we started out with a slow moment, and it’s about building momentum,” coach Erica Manor said. “They got excited, so they had to slow their minds and focus on one point at a time, believe in yourself and have confidence in each other. That’s what I preached to them in the timeout, so I think that (that) was the biggest deal breaker in finding the ground on the other side of the net.”
The second set played out much like the first, with Parkersburg South taking an early lead on Mohigan mistakes. Morgantown fought back within a few points, but Catreena Shears grabbed a line of kills on the far side of the court for a 4-0 run. Down four points Morgantown fought back to cut the deficit to 21-20. Moser picked up three straight aces, Corwin pounded a kill and another Patriot attacking error on game-point gave MHS the set.
“We just slowed down the play,” Corwin said of the back-to-back comebacks. “We needed to get air under the ball to give us time and that’s key in tight sets. 25-25 (in set 1), that’s tight, so it was super important to slow down the ball and better our play so we can rip away.”
Morgantown finally began clicking in the third set to lead South throughout the first half. Down but not out, South began chipping away at the Mohigans’ 8-point lead, but a stifling net game by Sage Halbritter and Lyons was too much for the exhausted Patriots.
“You can’t deny they have really good hitters, and it was about doing what we could on our side of the net. This win definitely helps moving forward (in conference play),” Manor said.
Corwin ended the night with 12 kills, seven digs and one ace. Sage Halbritter had nine kills, six solo blocks and one assisted block, and Washburn had seven kills, two solo blocks, five block assists, six digs and one ace. Senior McKayla Mills (7) and sophomore Emily Goldcamp (4) combined for 11 kills.
Albeit a big night for her junior outside hitter, Manor had a postgame moment with Corwin who was beating herself up over a few mistakes.
“Alayna is very tough on herself,” Manor said. “She loves the sport of volleyball and she wants nothing but herself and this team to be successful. We talked about the mental toughness after mistakes that she just needs to learn from them, move on and let them stay in the past, while playing in the present and future. She’s our go-to kid, and she did a great job tonight in a lot of different moments.”
MoHawks in the fight against cancer
Morgantown and University are raising money for breast cancer during the teams’ showdown on Oct. 15.
They are selling t-shirts, as well as hosting a volley-a-thon where those donating can sponsor a player to raise money based on a the number of kills, aces and digs.
Money raised will be donated to the WVU Cancer Institute.
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