BLACKSVILLE — As the Clay-Battelle volleyball team was closing out their dominating 3-0 sweep of inexperienced Tygarts Valley Thursday, third-year head coach Matt Wood could certainly remember some evenings he has experienced with his Cee-Bees on the other side of the scoreboard.
“Yeah, there will always be those kinds of nights, especially when you’re just beginning to grow your program,” he smiled. “So it’s always good to remember how that feels, and try your best to continue to improve and stay competitive.”
From the start of set one, it was clear that the Cee-Bees (3-3) had the skill, knowledge, and teamwork advantage over the young Bulldogs (0-3), especially from the service line. Up 9-6, junior Bre Swaniger took her service turn and with accuracy, pace and consistency, racked up several aces to help her team rattle off 14 straight points, leading to a 25-7 CB win.
Set two again saw Clay-Battelle pass and communicate well, running their set offense efficiently to build a comfortable 13-3 lead midway through the middle frame. Some rare service errors and a few Bulldog scramble points closed the gap to 18-11, but then sophomore libero Ginger Gross and her controlled jump serve took over, and only a net cord at set point kept her from serving it out. A textbook CB serve to receive, set and kill took the set a point later, 25-12.
It was more of the same in set three — Tygarts Valley tied the set at 2-2, but never enjoyed a lead the entire match — and the Cee-Bees rolled over their bench throughout the match, cruising to a 25-13 sweep.
After the match, Wood reviewed his team’s performance, and, not surprisingly, was for the most part, most pleased.
“I thought we served very well,” he said. “We made few unforced errors, hit our spots, and were consistent. I also thought we communicated well, and did a pretty good job of running our offense and hitting when we had the chance. I think the best part of tonight was that we got a lot of girls playing time, especially some freshmen and sophomores who need to build up some varsity experience.”
As far as things to work on and build from, the CB coach had a few specifics in mind.
“It can be easy to get into bad habits in a game like this,” he admitted, “but I thought we stayed focused — right up until we had chances to close out sets. When we made service errors, they tended to bunch up a little at the end of games, and that’s not an ideal time for them to crop up. When you have a team down, you have to finish them off. That’s crucial, especially when you start to face tough competition.
“We have a long stretch where we don’t play at home again until October 3,” he continued. “It’s just how the schedule turned out, and while we only have one longish trip — and I don’t think the traveling will affect us much — we are heading into our most challenging matches. We’ll need to stay fundamentally sound, finish sets strong, and continue to communicate and work well together. We’re going to find out just who we are in September.”
In the JV match, Clay-Battelle began the sweeping by shutting out the Bulldogs 2-0 (25-10, 25-7).
The Cee-Bees begin their month-long road trip next Tuesday at county rival Trinity Christian.
BY MARK SCHRAF
