MORGANTOWN — The University High School volleyball team continued its hot start to the 2023 season with two wins over two strong Class AAA opponents Tuesday night on Baker’s Ridge.
The Hawks (7-0) hosted Parkersburg South and Bridgeport in a tri-match, that also served as the home opener for UHS head coach Nick Lusk and his club.
The Hawks defeated the Patriots to begin the evening in a sweep, 2-0. The Hawks took the first set 25-19 after grabbing an early lead and not letting go of it for the entirety of the opening frame.
UHS held a lead 19-14 in the first set, but the Patriots battled back out of a timeout and rallied for four straight points, closing the gap to just one. University junior Caroline Adams took control of serve and helped UHS close the set on a 6-1 run.
The second set opened more evenly, but UHS took advantage of some errors by Parkersburg South and built a 22-12 lead. Another junior for UHS, Kate Williams, helped close the second set, and the match, for her team.
“I’m proud of them for how they battled tonight,” Lusk said. “We played Spring Mills last week and went 37-35 in a game so we knew we could make it through a game that went this way. The way we fought back after being down late shows a lot.”
University then turned to Bridgeport, the team who eliminated them from Regionals last year. UHS and BHS battled to the last point but the hosts eventually squeaked out a 2-1 match win over the Indians.
The battle came mostly in the second and third sets of the best-of-three match. After UHS took set one 25-20, the Indians came back and won set two, a back-and-forth affair, 28-26. After trailing 17-14, Bridgeport went on a run to tie the second set, then each team traded points until 26-26. Eventually, the visitors broke through and tied the match, forcing a third and final set.
Bridgeport took four straight points to lead 12-9 in the third set, forcing Lusk and crew to take a timeout to gather themselves before the final set slipped away from them or the lead got too big to handle.
UHS pulled within one point at 13-12 but allowed its opponents to continuously slam the door shut on any momentum they tried to generate.
The Hawks found themselves down 21-18 after a serving error, one of 14 on the night, but responded by winning three of the next four points and cutting the lead to one point at 21-20.
Williams would come up with a huge block to tie the match at 21, as she and junior Addie Kitzmiller controlled the middle of the court.
“Kate’s blocking is excellent,” Lusk said. “That’s key for us and we talk about it all the time. That blocking helps out back row, which we are confident in, but that front row makes a big difference and Kate is the leader of that.”
Williams earned a kill on offense that made the lead 23-21 for UHS, but Bridgeport pulled one back and then tied the final set 23-23.
A service error by BHS gave the hosts a free chance at match point and UHS took advantage by closing the game out on the next point, 25-23, and taking the match by a score of 2-1.
The Hawks will host another match this evening, a quad with Brooke, Buckhannon-Upshur, and East Fairmont.
