MORGANTOWN — The University High School volleyball team fell short of the OVAC 5A volleyball tournament championship with a 3-1 defeat to visiting Warren (Oh.) Wednesday night on Baker’s Ridge.
After fighting hard for an opening-set victory 25-22, the Hawks (18-6-2) seemed to lose some rhythm and a bit of focus as costly mistakes piled up on the way to three straight set losses 25-13, 25-22 and 25-16.
The Warriors (17-3) responded well after dropping the opening set, one in which they took the advantage midway through after points were traded all the way up to 10-10 on the scoreboard.
Warren took the next three points to force a UHS timeout and continued to lead by three at 17-14 after the break in play.
The Hawks fought back to steal a lead at 18-17 and force the visitors into a timeout of their own after being denied the chance to extend a lead. Once again, points were traded and the score was locked at 22-all but UHS would be the team to come out victorious by scoring four out of the final five points to take a 1-0 advantage in the match.
“We seemed like we were doing everything right,” UHS head coach Nick Lusk said of the opening set. “They responded well early on and then after that, it was like we were just going through the motions.”
The second set began tight with Warren leading 6-4, but the lead kept growing gradually larger as the set went on. Trailing 10-8, UHS had an opportunity to do as they did in the opening set and grab some momentum. However, some mental mistakes and costly errors on both offense and defense worked against the Hawks.
The lead grew from 13-9 to 16-10, and eventually 19-12 as the Warriors’ front line began to settle into the match and make a difference on their way to a 25-13 victory in the second set that evened the match at one set each.
“One thing we’ve done well all season is sticking to our game and who we are,” Warren head coach Ann Skufca said. “We come in with a game plan and try to execute that. Sometimes that needs a little modification but this team works together well and they have determination which is one thing you can’t really teach.”
The third set began as the second ended with the Warriors quickly earning points and building a lead, this time at eight points 15-7. UHS seemed unorganized on defense but after a timeout, responded by winning the next 11 out of 13 points and cutting the deficit to just one at 17-16 forcing a timeout from the visitors. Warren responded well out of the timeout and after taking three straight points, slammed the door shut on the UHS comeback.
“We just came out flat and there were a lot of issues,” Lusk said. “It wasn’t just one thing, there were a number of problems that we couldn’t seem to deal with or figure out. Their big hitters up front were playing well but the drop from one set to the next was something we have to figure out quickly.”
After trailing early in the fourth set 6-2, the Hawks were unable to cut the deficit to smaller than four as the Warriors took the fourth set 25-16 and the match 3-1 in sets.
Warren will move on to face Morgantown in the OVAC 5A championship match on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Union Local High School in Belmont, Ohio.
