By Carl Holcomb, Moorefield Examiner
It was business as usual when the Cougars took the court in Baker for the WVSSAC Class A Region II Volleyball Co-Championship earning their third consecutive crown with a straight set victory over Tucker County (25-4, 25-4, 25-4) as East Hardy served up a 17th state tournament appearance in program history.
East Hardy athletic director Devon Orndorff handed the Class A Region II Championship plaque to Cougars senior Morganne Miller, who nonchalantly received it and returned calmly to her teammates with it and noted that ‘a plaque is a plaque, we have more work to do’.
East Hardy gathered together for the championship team photo, then exited to the locker room to receive additional instruction from the coaches about the upcoming state tournament trip to Charleston.
The Cougars finished as the WVSSAC Class A State Volleyball runner-up last season playing at West Virginia State University after a court related tournament delay without the luxury of playing in the Charleston Coliseum.
The goals remained the same this year even with a smaller squad which didn’t deter the mission of having heart, determination and hard work to make another run back to Charleston.
East Hardy will join Class A Region II Co-Champion Pendleton County at the state tournament beginning on Wednesday morning with a potential to have a semifinal meeting.
No. 4 East Hardy (23-8) faces No. 5 Madonna (27-10-1) in the opening round of the state tournament on Wednesday morning, while the No. 8 Wildcats (20-10) battle top seeded Wirt County (30-4-2).
The other side of the Class A state bracket has No. 2 Gilmer County (35-10-1) vs No. 7 Greenbrier West (22-17-1) and No. 3 Sherman (25-8-1) vs No. 6 St. Marys (25-11-1).
When asked if the volleyball team cuts the net down for the region tournament like the basketball team does, East Hardy Volleyball assistant coach Chris Hahn jokingly said they have complained about that for 18 years, but it is too expensive.
“Super special for this group, because they didn’t get to play in the Coliseum last year. To be able to go down and play at the Coliseum this year, I am just really excited for them and the environment they will get to play in. The WVSSAC does a really good job with that tournament and happy to take the girls there. It shows the growth they made with only eight kids on the team all year and dealing with injuries to battle through that adversity to put themselves in a position to be there and be successful is just really special. I am very proud of them,” Coach Chris Hahn commented.
The Class A Region II championship match against Tucker County was a rematch of last year’s title game.
The Mountain Lions commenced the championship with a serve by Nellie Nelson which was returned back into the net by East Hardy, then the Cougars responded by rattling off 18 consecutive points.
The first Cougars three points were on spikes by Miller, then Amelia Garrett’s serve was returned into the net.
East Hardy’s Madison Kerr made a dig and Xavia Barber passed to Miller for a shot that ricocheted back to the net off a dig by Nelson.
Danica Wolfe scored on an attack for the Cougars, then Miller slammed the ball again prior to a timeout.
Coming out of the break, Garrett delivered two aces and Miller found the floor twice off sets from Barber. Barber scored on a volley as the ball was returned into the net.
Garrett sandwiched a pair of aces around two kills by Miller en route to an 18-1 lead.
The Cougars closed out the first set with three straight aces by Barber, 25-4.
East Hardy stormed the court in the second set building an 18-nil advantage due in part by Garrett’s accuracy on the service line with seven aces.
Kerr made a dig and Barber set for Miller to slam the ball for the initial point, then Garrett served an ace.
