MORGANTOWN — Three years ago, then- University High rookie volleyball coach Nick Lusk made a curious and perhaps somewhat controversial roster decision.
He decided to keep a whopping eight sophomores on the varsity squad.
That multi-year investment in the future of Hawks’ volleyball paid the sweetest of dividends, as UHS swept past John Marshall 3-0 on Wednesday in the Region I co-finals, punching its ticket into next week’s state tournament for the first time since 2019.
“I’m sure back then that (UHS athletic director) Jeff Bailey had to be wondering a little bit if I really knew what I was doing,” Lusk recalled with a grin after his Hawks’ dominating performance. “But we recognized the talent that was there in that group (Caroline Adams, Allison Kinsley, Addison Kitzmiller, Marissa Mitchell, Katherine Pilgrim, Avery Reed, Natalie Voithofer, and Kate Williams), and we had a plan for success. And it’s all come together this season.”
University (34-8-1) looked confident, relaxed, and on point at the start of the match – likely remembering their two regular season wins against the Monarchs (10-8-1) – and they certainly played the part of a state-tourney team, roaring out to a 9-1 lead behind strong defense, mistake-free serving, and powerful hitting.
While John Marshall found some success in the middle of the set and climbed to within four at 14-10, the Hawks kept the pedal down and finished the first set with ease, 25-15.
Set 2 proved the most closely contested of the night. After trailing by three early, John Marshall took advantage of strong blocking and strategic kill placements to forge a surprising 18-15 lead, but UHS seemed to crank up the intensity down the stretch, outscoring the Monarchs 10-4 to take the set and command of the match. Another strong, 7-0 Hawks start took most of the fight out of the Monarchs, as UHS was never threatened and cruised to a 25-14 win in the final set to secure a trip to Charleston.
“We were very loose and had a great week of practice to tighten up some specific parts of our game,” Lusk said, describing the victory. “We thought we would be able to score, so I told them we wanted to focus on defending, and let the offense come. I thought we received serve well, and swung well, too, especially Addy (Kitzmiller). When she transitions and her approach is right like it was tonight, she’s really hard to defend.”
Kitzmiller agreed that she was “feeling it” early, as were the rest of her teammates.
“We came out with great positive energy,” she smiled, “and ready to have fun, and that’s when we play at our best. We’ve been together so long, playing for the school and on club teams, and so we’ve been building to this moment for a long time, and now that we finally made it, we’re really excited to play against the best in the State. We can’t wait!”
Libero Kate Pilgrim also recalled her sophomore year with her friends.
“This is such a big step for us,” she explained, “because we put in the work and supported each other through all these years, and now it’s finally paid off. And if we play like we did tonight – defense first, smart decisions, stay focused – I think we have as good a chance as anybody.”
Four-year letter winner Caroline Adams believes that as well.
“We’ve been together for so long now,” she said, “that we know and trust each other, and we pick each other up when we need to. It’s a team game, and I think that when we play as a team like we did against (defending state champs) Morgantown when we beat them, we’ve shown that we can stay with anybody. We’ve come a long way together the past three years, and we’re not done yet.”
When asked what he told his team in their huddle after the big win and the cheers and the hugs and the pictures, Lusk said, “I told them that we need to continue to play loose, have fun, think defense first, and not let one mistake turn into three. We shouldn’t be satisfied just going to Charleston – we’re three matches away from a state championship. Let’s go win three in a row.”
