×
×
homepage logo

‘Cats Claim Second Straight Mason-Dixon Title

By Staff | Nov 4, 2009

Paden City has now won four of the last five Mason-Dixon Conference volleyball titles after knocking off Bishop Donahue and Morgantown Trinity in straight sets Oct. 31 at Bob Burton Gymnasium.

First up was Donahue. Paden City didn’t have a difficult time in a 25-11 victory. Although the second match was a little closer, the Lady ‘Cats managed to hold off a determined Lady Bishop squad in the second set, 26-24, to win the match.

Amanda Sellers and Amber Palmer did their best to set up the front line of Alli Bertozzi, Amanda Tallman, and Dominique Craft, with 42 sets between them. Twenty-six were net winners.

Bertozzi led with a game-high 15 kills, while Tallman and Craft each added four kills. Palmer got in the power mode and added three kills, while Megan Cutlip, usually a back-row hitter, also drilled three.

In the scoring department, Craft led the way with 10 points, including four service aces, while Sellers netted nine points. The trio of Bertozzi, Cutlip, and Palmer had 14 digs during the two-game match.

The win put the Lady ‘Cats in the championship round against Trinity, who beat the Valley Lumberjills earlier in the day in two sets. No stats where available for that contest.

Again, the Lady Wildcats raced out to a huge first-set advantage and coasted to a convincing 25-9 victory in the first set. The Fred-King-and-Jeff- Bowers bunch would not falter in the second match and destroyed Trinity, 25-17, to earn the Mason-Dixon title for the second straight season.

Sellers and Palmer dished off 18 assists, while Bertozzi and Tallman delivered the blows with 18 kills between them. Craft had a game-high 10 points, including a pair of service aces, while Tallman netted eight points.

The win was the Wildcats’ 29th of the season and they will try to defeat Wheeling Central, Cameron, Madonna, Bishop Donahue, and Valley in sectional play this week in Weirton.

*****

The Magnolia Lady Eagle Volleyball Team battled Paden City and Parkersburg Catholic in a tri at the MHS HammerDome Oct. 27. The Eagles pounced on the Lady Crusaderettes in the first set, 25-14, but Parkersburg returned the favor and won the next two sets to take the match.

Makenzie Dawson scored a team-high 12 points to lead the way offensively, while Lacey Jackson and Kelsi Heasley combined for 17 points. Alexa Jo Hanna tallied six points, while Marissa Bosley contributed four markers towards the Blue Eagle tally.

*****

In the nightcap, Magnolia started out the same way against the the Lady Wildcats, but it was nip-and-tuck throughout, with the Eagles getting a break late in the match on a controversial call to gain a 26-24 overtime victory.

After switching sides, the ‘Cats scored the first two points off serves from Amber Palmer to grab an early lead in the second set, but the teams went after each other like there was no tomorrow. Hanna laid out for several digs to keep volleys going for the Eagles, while Jackson and Heasley blocked several spikes from Alli Bertozzi and Amanda Tallman. But, two Bertozzi bombs found their mark and Paden City kept its two-point lead, despite the outstanding play of the Eagles.

A Jackson service ace closed the gap, but a towering kill by Tallman and a pair of blocks by Dominique Craft inched the ‘Cats’ lead to four points.

Two more Bertozzi spikes added to the Paden City score. However, a bad Wildcat serve and a block each by Jackson and Jordan Babe – plus two blocks by Abby Harlan – closed the gap to 17-16, Paden City. Babe also contributed a kill in the effort.

Later, a Lady ‘Cat rally got started when a Magnolia player got into the net, followed by a dig and three straight kills by Bertozzi to extend Paden City’s lead. The ‘Cats won a nice volley and Bertozzi added another kill to help finish off the Eagles, 25-16, to win set two.

During the set, Magnolia kept good volleys going with several blocks and by handling many Paden City spikes. But, in the end, the scales tipped toward Paden City on nine Bertozzi spikes and a kill each by Tallman and Craft.

In the tie-breaking set, the Eagles gave their guests a point right off the bat on a bad serve. Paden City would go on to take a 4-0 lead, finished with a Bertozzi kill.

Magnolia stopped the bleeding with a Babe kill, but Bertozzi lobbed a shot over the Blue Eagle front line for a PC tally. The Eagles won a nice volley and scored their third point when Annie “Get Your Gun” Potts smacked a winner to the Wildcats’ back row.

Bertozzi added her second kill of the set and scored on a block at the net to give her team a 7-3 lead, while Palmer added a dig before the host team won back the serve with a Jackson kill.

Usually after a nice play you get the serve and Jackson did. She started with an ace but lost possession on a bad serve.

The ‘Cats’ Tallman drilled a kill to put her team up 10-6 and Amanda Heasley scored a service ace to extend Paden City’s lead to 13-7. However, a bad Lady ‘Cat serve gave the serve back to Magnolia. But, they didn’t want it and gave it back on a long spike.

Craft found the Lady Eagle back row with a spike, but Kelsi Heasley got the serve back for Magnolia on a nasty kill. Magnolia won a pair of long volleys and Jackson nailed a kill to the ‘Cats’ back row to pull the home team to within five.

But, that is the closet they got. The Wildcats front hitter, Bertozzi, found the HammerDome to her liking and smacked four more kills to put a damper on the Eagles’ Senior Night activities, in a 25-15 Wildcat win.

Heasley and Jackson evenly split 22 points for Magnolia, while Krysten Miller came off the bench to score 10 points. Potts and Dawson each netted six points.

For Paden City, Bertozzi drilled 26 kills, blocked three shots, and scored five points, including a service ace to lead the Wildcat charge. Palmer and Sellers teamed with 43 assists, while Tallman and Craft combined for 16 kills and four blocks, while scoring 15 points between them.