CHARLESTON – The MHS volleyball team will play for a state championship after two victories on Wednesday to advance to Thursday’s title game.
The Mohigans defeated Spring Valley in the quarterfinals in straight sets to begin the day, advancing them to the semifinals in the evening session against Hedgesville High School and defeating the Eagles 3-1.
The opening set of the semifinals saw the Mohigans in control early, using solid defense to negate the tall front-line of HHS.
MHS rode the wave of momentum and eventually took the first set 25-17. The rest of the match wouldn’t be as easy, however.
Set two did go in favor of the Mohigans 25-19, but they didn’t lead by more than one until 21-19 the entire time. Then, down 2-0 and with their season on the line, the Eagles fought back hard in the third set and won a close one 25-23 to force set four.
“I saw the fight today,” MHS head coach Erica Manor-Sphar said after the second game of the day. “I saw the tenacity for them to go point-for-point no matter the pressure of the situation both earlier in the day and in the game just now against Hedgesville. We stayed in a grind and our mentality didn’t change.”
That grind was exactly what MHS found itself in as HHS took a 5-1 lead to begin the fourth. The Mohigans battled back to tie the set at eight points, but couldn’t get over the hump as the Eagles offense came alive.
Then, senior Paige Brock stepped up to serve and for the second time in the match, rallied for four consecutive points that completely changed the course of momentum for her team.
Manor-Sphar credited her teams mental strength in dealing with the swinging momentum in the match, particularly in the final set after battling back from trailing early.
“We credit that to our mental strength, it’s actually something we train,” she said. “We want to be prepared for every different situation and it’s a mental game for either opponent so that’s something we want to be ready to deal with.”
The Mohigans would use the strength of Brock’s serving to finish the fourth set 25-18 and take the match 3-1.
Now, MHS will face off against the top-ranked, two-time defending state champion Musselman High School.
Musselman just so happens to be the alma mater of MHS head coach Erica Manor-Sphar, who was an all-state volleyball player there.
“It’s really neat,” she said. “When I played there the team I was on really was the first one to set it off, so to be able to come out and coach against my former coach, someone I respect so much and look up to as a mentor in the volleyball world is special.”
The Mohigans and the Applemen will begin the fight for the WVSSAC Class AAA volleyball state championship Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. at the Charleston Coliseum.
TWEET – @dompostsports @ahhh_griff
