The River Pilots attempted to thwart the offensive surge of their cross-river rivals Magnolia Oct. 11, but the Lady Eagles had other ideas.

MHS senior multi-talented Jordan “I-Got-You” Babe bombarded the R.L. Potts Gymnasium with a game-high 24 kills to offset the 44 River digs to power Magnolia to a four-set match victory.

In the opening set, the Lady Pilots took an early lead, only to see it evaporate with the continued pounding of Babe at the net and the dinks and spikes of Makensie Dawson, Mallory Chapman, Emily Clegg, Emily Blake, and Lauren Cline were just too much to overcome and the Lady Eagles took back the lead.

The Lady Pilots wouldn’t give up and stayed right with the Eagles, taking the pounding with nice digs by Annie Turner, Hannah Jones, and Stephanie Murdock and the outstanding defensive play at the net by RHS Homecoming Queen, Torey Potts.

However, in the end, it was the Eagles who were on the higher side of the 25-18 score. The River Pilot student body didn’t give up on their team and River would exchange places with Magnolia with the same identical score, 25-18, with their team gaining the nod.

In the third set, Magnolia jumped out to a commanding 14-8 lead, but with Turner at the service line, the Pilots would close the gap to 14-12, with the help of a pair of kills by Potts and a nice dig save by Jones before the Eagles’ Emily Clegg set one down with a kill.

That’s when Babe went to work pounding out seven kills, while Chapman kept play alive with a half dozen digs and outstanding volleying by the rest of the team to claim a 25-14 victory and take a two-one lead in a best of five matches.

Cline opened the next set with two points for Magnolia, while Dakota Early fought back with a nice play and a Potts kill to pull to within one point. But, a bad Pilot serve and a pair of kills by Babe and Chapman gave Magnolia a 6-4 lead. Dawson set down a perfect serve and Chapman added another kill to push the Lady Eagle advantage to 8-5.

With Turner at the serving line, River closed the gap to one point before Babe landed a perfect dink to stop the rally.

With Clegg serving, the Eagles tacked on a pair of points, including an ace. Earley brought the home team a little closer until Babe went to work once more with a pair of kills. Magnolia tallied two more points, thanks to a Pilot in the net and a Clegg kill.

Young and Potts kept the Pilots within reach, but in the end, it was Babe with two kills, including the game-winner, to improve Magnolia’s record to 14-9.

“We have been playing well of late and hope to continue to play as a team and be on top of our game heading into tournament play,” said Magnolia Head Coach Pam Chapman. “Anyone in our region can win, we just want to get better and be able to extend our season as long as we can.”

Chapman added, “The Pilots are a much improved team and a game like this, in this type of atmosphere, can only help us get even better.”

Pilot Head Coach Jim Turner said about his team, “Our kids have been working hard and we have been very competitive all season. Magnolia beat us by large margins last season and you can see by our play in this game that we are a much better team. If we can only get a few breaks to go our way, we might slip in there and win a few of these close games before we’re finished.”

Cline paced the Lady Eagles with 19 points and 56 assists, including quite a few to Babe, who led the match with 24 kills and six blocks. Clegg added 13 points, including a trio of service aces and added three kills. Chapman, who had another all-around nice game, added 12 points, seven kills, three blocks, and 21 digs. Dawson and Blake teamed for 22 points and 22 digs.

For the Lady Pilots, Jones led River with 14 points, while Young and Potts paced the team with 16 kills. Connors tacked on 13 points and four kills, while Earley contributed a dozen markers and Murdock contributed 11 points and seven digs.

The Lady Eagles have two home games left on their schedule. The first is Oct. 20 and, a week later, their senior night game with Brooke.

Try to make a date to see the ladies in action before tournament time. Both of those matches start at 6 p.m.

The Lady Pilots’ regular season ended with a match against Valley on Oct. 13. They await their sectional matches later this month.

*****

Emily Blake and Emily Clegg each recorded 15 points and split seven service aces, with Blake netting four to power the Magnolia Lady Blue Eagles to a three-set victory, 25-10, 25-14, and 25-18 over the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights Oct. 12 in Wheeling.

Blake added 11 digs for the red-hot Blue Eagles, while Clegg tacked on three kills. Jordan “I-Got-You” Babe and Lauren “Once-About-A” Cline each tallied 14 markers, while Babe added 19 kills and four blocks. Cline also contributed 48 assists and two blocks.

In addition, Makenzie Dawson put up nine points, including a pair of service aces, while she and Mallory Chapman combined to stop 31 spikes with nice digs. Chapman added five points, nine kills, and three blocks, while Erinn Clegg came off the bench to tack on five points and two aces.

The Lady Eagles will host John Marshall on Oct. 20 before finishing the regular season with a tri-match in Paden City with the Lady ‘Cats and Williamstown. Paden City will host Brooke on senior night, Oct. 27, in its last match of the season. All matches will start at 6 p.m.