MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Playing in come-from-behind fashion Thursday, the Clay-Battelle volleyball team remained undefeated in Mason Dixon Conference play following a 3-0 victory over Trinity.
The set scores were 25-15, 25-22 and 25-20.
According to Trinity coach Kate Dlugos, one of her team’s bugaboos this year has been slow starts, and that trend continued against the Cee-Bees (7-4), who burst out to an 8-1 lead in the first set. While the Warriors (1-8) eventually got into the match and essentially stayed even for the remained of the set, Clay-Battelle’s strong service game prevented TC from drawing closer than four points as they took Set 1 by 10.
An animated Warriors group jumped out to a strong five-point lead early in Set 2, and maintained a 14-10 advantage midway through, until the Cee-Bees seized the momentum with a combination of effective passing, continued impressive serving, and excellent communication on free points. Down by four, CB flipped the set with eight straight points to go up 18-14, then continued to roll out to a 22-15 lead. But Trinity didn’t fold, battling back to 24-22 before finally bowing, 25-22.
The final set turned out to be closest of the three, featuring nine ties up to 17-17, with neither team holding more than a three-point bulge. But Clay-Battelle’s superior serves and experience prevailed during the critical points throughout the match, and they found a way to stretch out to a 20-17 lead and close out the set and match, 25-20.
“We knew that this was going to be a tough match – it always it against Trinity,” said CB coach Matt Wood. “I don’t care what their record is; they are a good team and getting better. We were very pleased to be able to win against a potential Sectional foe, as well as an OVAC and Mason-Dixon Conference match (CB is 7-0 in the Mason-Dixon).
“We served very well tonight,” he continued. “We’ve put a lot of work into making sure we keep the ball in play while still trying to make them tough to return. We played hard as always, and we’d love to see our outside hitters swing a bit more. We’ll need them to if we want to keep playing well.”
For Dlugos, every varsity match is another opportunity for her young team to raise their volleyball IQs another few points.
“I think we proved to ourselves that we can play good volleyball against a good opponent tonight,” she smiled. “Slow starts keep hurting us, and we’re still working on connecting the pass with the set with the swing, but I thought overall we were very competitive and supportive and positive.
“With just 10 players,” she continued, “we never get a chance to go six on six in practice. That’s tough, especially with six freshmen and a few other girls who are new to the game, because every game-like rep helps young players learn so much. We are learning at the varsity level — but we’re learning fast, and I’m proud of how far we’ve come.”
The Cee-Bees are off until Tuesday when they travel to South Harrison, while the Warriors host Heritage Christian (Bridgeport) at 6 p.m. Monday.
