MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown High School volleyball team continued its strong 2023 season with a 3-0 sweep of OVAC 5A and Class AAA opponent John Marshall on Tuesday night inside the Rowdie Center.
The Mohigans now hold a match record of 12-0 this season, with a set record of 24-1, the one set loss coming in a best-of-one tournament match against North Catholic High School (Pa.) ten days ago. Other than that set, they are unscathed against competition in a full match (best of three or five).
JM recently earned a big win over University and came into Tuesday’s match looking to continue its run but head coach Erica Manor’s club shut the door on every attempt by the visitors to gain momentum for a difference-making scoring run. Outside hitting on offense and a strong defensive effort against the Monarchs front line carried the hosts to another sweep.
“We tried some different personnel in some different positions tonight and I thought we responded well through the ups and downs of the match tonight,” Manor said. “Offensively we were moving the ball around well and on defense, we did well to stop their big hitters inside.”
The opening set was controlled by MHS throughout, opening with a 6-0 lead that grew to 13-4, then 19-9, and eventually 22-14. The latter deficit proved too great for JM to overcome in the first set as MHS won 25-16.
The second set began differently with the score tied at four early on as neither team allowed the other to gain momentum. Then the Mohigans went on a scoring run of seven straight points to lead 11-4.
The Monarchs earned three straight points of their own to stop the bleeding and after trailing 12-7, went on a scoring run to tie the game at 13 a piece and force MHS into its first timeout of the match.
JM managed to take its first lead of the night at 16-15 but the offense of MHS came alive, willing the hosts into a rally and extending a lead to four points, 20-16. Giatta Iquinto came up with two big kills for her team after having trouble finding her rhythm early on offense.
Senior libero Grace DeVall gave a strong effort on the defensive back-line to keep the hitters of JM in check. DeVall won’t be the player for MHS to jump and spike the ball for a kill on offense, but she said knowing her role and sticking to what she does best is always her mindset.
“To be a well-rounded player you have to be comfortable doing things almost every position is doing,” DeVall said. “Passing, setting, serving, and even picking up my teammates when we lose a point or something doesn’t go our way. It’s important to me that my teammates know that I have their backs.”
The Mohigans won the second set 25-17 after surviving the strong effort from JM to rally into a lead.
The third set began the same as the second tied at four each and once again, the Mohigans were the team to break the deadlock and open a lead at 10-5.
That lead eventually grew to 16-10 as the Monarchs found themselves with their backs against the wall, needing to cut into the lead as soon as possible.
Fortunately for MHS, the door was slammed shut on the JM offense once again after a 17-11 lead became 19-12, and eventually the final score of 25-17.
“We have a goal for OVACs and we are going to continue to take it one game at a time focusing on what’s in front of us,” Manor said.
Morgantown will return home on Thursday evening with Blazer High School (Ky.) making the trip to MHS.
