The second-seeded Lady Wildcats faced the fourth-ranked Bellaire St. John in the semi final of the OVAC Class-A Volleyball Championship Oct. 13 at Brooke High School.

After losing the first match 23-25, the Lady ‘Cats defeated the Irish 25-14 and 25-19 to jump into the finals, where they would face Weirton Madonna in the finals. Earlier in the day, Madonna won over Beallsville 25-27, 25-22, and 25-18.

In the championship contest, Madonna was able to take the first match, 21-25, and was about to close the deal in set two, only to have the never-say-die ‘Cats claw their way back to win set two 25-23 and set up the three-set final match.

Behind four seniors, the Blue Dons claimed a hard-fought 17-25 victory that ended Paden City’s quest for back-to-back OVAC championships.

In the match with St. John, Logan Cosper made 44 assists and scored 19 service points, while Taylor Cosper, Lynnsie Parsons, and Myah Charkawi combined for 40 markers. Josie Fox contributed seven points, while Haley Hizer added six points. Parsons was tough around the net, blasting a match-high 17 kills, while Megan Pierce followed with 11 kills and made three blocks. Hizer and Cydney Blatt each recorded eight kills, while Charkawi and Logan Cosper smacked two and one kill, respectively.

“We dove, we scrapped, and we kept balls alive,” said Paden City Head Coach Fred King. “Everyone did something great several times in the first match.

In the championship tilt, Logan Cosper had a team-high 16 points, 36 assists, and made two digs, while Charkawi and Fox added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Parsons contributed eight points, five digs, and brought down the house with 12 kills. Blatt made two blocks and torched the nets with nine kills. Hizer scored three points, made three kills, and had four digs.

In addition, Charkawi tallied two service aces and made a team-high 13 digs. “For us to be here, I’m pretty happy,” said King. “We probably shouldn’t be here with a freshman- and sophomore-laden team. Madonna has got a very good volleyball team and for us to get one on them. I feel pretty good about that.”

Paden City-Cee-Bees-Trinity

The Lady ‘Cats’ Logan Cosper tallied 18 points, with 77 sets and 28 assists, while teammate Lynnsie Parsons added nine points, 12 kills and four digs to help Paden City defeat Trinity Morgantown 24-26, 27-25, and 25-18 in Blacksville, Oct. 10.

Taylor Parsons added 15 points, two aces, and six digs, while Josie Fox contributed 13 points, two aces, and seven digs for the Wildcats. Myrah Charkawi and Graeson Baker evenly split 18 points, with Charkawi adding three aces and making 12 digs, while Baker contributed one service ace, four kills, and made 12 digs.

In addition, Cydney Blatt came off the bench to add four kills, while the dynamic duo of Hayley Hizer and Megan Pierce bombarded the Warriors with three kills each.

In the second match of the night, Paden City would win a pair of 25-20 victories over their hosts Clay-Battelle.

Taylor Cosper tallied a game-high 17 points, including a trio of service aces and three digs to help power the Wildcats to its 22nd victory of the season.

Charkawi was the other double-digit scorer for the ‘Cats with 12 points, three aces, and nine digs. She also slammed home three kills, while Fox followed with seven points and five digs.

Logan Cosper made 68 sets and 27 assists while making six points at the service line. Parsons and Baker each scored four points, with Parsons adding 12 kills and five digs. Meanwhile, Baker contributed four digs and the duo of Hizer and Pierce accounted for 10 kills.