MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — University High hosted the Morgantown Volleyball Showcase on Monday, featuring a trio of matches between UHS, Morgantown and Trinity. While the warm-up acts — the two Trinity matches — were solid, the main event was a real barnburner.
Although the Hawks finally prevailed against their inner-city rival to sweep the season series, it took an epic 27-25 comeback win in the third set to close out the match.
UHS (24-4) took on the Warriors first, and used solid serving and strong hitting to win 25-11 and 25-14. But there perhaps were some signs that the Hawks may have been fatigued after playing six matches this past weekend — as there was some sloppy passing and a few mental errors mixed in with their overall play.
MHS (12-12-1) next took on Trinity, and the Mohigans looked especially sharp in all facets in taking both games by identical 25-7 scores.
The intensity, enthusiasm and crowd reaction ramped up considerably as the final regular season grudge match began, as did the level of play from both teams.
The first set stayed essentially even, the two teams trading points until 12-12, when MHS grabbed the first surge of momentum with great defense to forge an 18-13 lead. But the Hawks, behind the dependable serve of sophomore Rachel Shockley — who finished the night 20-20 on serves — powered back with eight straight points to go ahead 23-19. Then went on to finish it off 25-22.
The pattern repeated early in Game 2, as the two evenly-matched teams traded digs, service aces, blocks and kills until, at 7-all, the Mohigans began setting outside hitter Alayna Corwin consistently.
The high-flying, free-swinging junior got hot on her way to a stellar 15 kill, 20 dig night. Coupled with several hitting errors by the Hawks, MHS jumped out to a 6-point bulge at 13-7.
The Mohigans maintained or extended that margin until they were three points from tying up the match at 22-15.
UHS chipped away, getting to 23-21, but a big bomb from senior outside hitter McKayla Mills prevented the Hawks from catching all the way up and MHS closed out the second set 25-22.
With momentum clearly on their side heading into the rubber game, the Mohigans rocketed out to a quick 14-8 advantage.
Relying on senior Ashten Boggs and her 18 kills, the Hawks closed twice to within a point before finally knotting the game at 20-20.
The nip and tuck battle continued, with MHS holding a 24-22 lead and serving for the match, but University scraped together three straight points, including a heavy Boggs hit, to take its first lead since early in the second set 25-24.
However, Mills’ kill made it 25-25, but a Mohigans hit flew just barely long. Then senior Mallory Napolillo, possessing an experienced, dependable service game, hit a low, hard serve which MHS failed to convert, giving the Hawks the win.
After the match, all three coaches were pleased with their teams’ performances.
Hawks coach Donnie Godfrey, while happy with the comeback victory, also knows that this won’t be the last time his team will see MHS.
“I’m sure we’ll face them again in the sectional, and maybe the regional, too,” he said. “I think we were a little tired tonight, but I also think we just felt like, having beaten them twice, we knew we wouldn’t lose. And while it was a nice comeback, and we fought our way to the win, that way of thinking can be awfully dangerous, especially against a good team like MHS. We’ll need our best game to beat them next time.”
