Photo by Bruce Crawford Pictured are the members and coaching staff of the 2018 W.Va. Class A champion Magnolia Blue Eagles, who defeated rival Tyler Consolidated in the championship match to culminate a run that saw Big Blue sweep nine straight sets inside the Charleston Civic Center.

The Magnolia Blue Eagles’ quest for a state volleyball title played out Friday and Saturday as the Eagles went 3-0 in all three matches to win the WVSSAC Class-A Championship, knocking off their Region I counterpart, Tyler Consolidated, in Charleston over the weekend.

Blue Eagles’ freshman Jaci Rhode came off the bench to climb the ladder, off a brilliant assist by Lenieca Grimm, and delivered the final blow with one swing to help Magnolia defeat Tyler Consolidated, 3-0, in the Class-A championship match Saturday, Nov. 10, inside the new and improved Charleston Civic Center.

“(Tyler coach Richard Summers) had a good game-plan,” said Blue Eagles Head Coach Pam Chapman. “We knew he was going to have something, because we’ve seen each other seven times total.

“We know each other so well. We had to mix it up. At the beginning we did get a little frustrated, OK. We were getting triple blocked out of our middles.

“We told them we had to work those angles a little more. Once they settled down after that first game, they started working the lines a little bit. You know what? Tyler plays hard. They really truly do. They never give up. They are a good ball team, and we always have respect for them when we play.”

The Eagles’ Mady Winters got the ball a rolling in the first set of the championship bout with a thunderous kill to break serve, and would strike a pair of aces in between a Kyndra Pilant kill, to give the Eagles a quick 4-0 lead.

After a Josey Jones kill to break serve, Pilant stuffed a Knight spike that fell in, to break serve, while Liza Clegg drilled a service ace to bring the Blue Eagles’ faithful to their feet and pushed the Eagles’ advantage to 6-1, before the Knights’ Emily Lancaster landed a dink to break serve. However, it was short-lived as the Eagles broke serve on a nice volley. Pilant bashed her second and third kill in between a Kennedy Parsons blast to go up 10-2.

Pilant landed another kill and an ace along with a pair of Winters kills, dink and block to extend Magnolia’s lead to 17-10. Each time the Lady Knights started to cook something, in came Pilant with a kill to keep Tyler at bay.

Tyler went on a couple three mini-runs to knot the first set up at 23-23, but a service error and a Parsons service points gave Magnolia a 25-23 win in the opening set.

Winters served up the first point, thanks to a Pilant kill, and would go on a 5-0 run shortly after a service error by both teams. The Eagles, again, went on another 5-0 run, thanks to four Pilant kills and one Parsons kill and block, to push the lead to 11-3.

The Knights would score four straight points with kills by Peyton Kocher and Alexa Johnson, and a Caleigh Phillips dink to pull to within four points. However, a Pilant kill and another Parsons block had the home team to 13-7.

After a Johnson kill, the Knights had their third service error and the second in this set, but they scored four straight points that got the Eagles’ attention, and scored four of the next six points to push its advantage to 18-13. Tyler would score the next three points, thanks to a Eagle service error and a service ace by JoLee Walton.

Once again, every time the Knights would get close, Grimm would set up Pilant for a kill and a nifty dink. But Magnolia scored another point after Winters stretched out for a save to give them a 21-16 lead.

However, the Lady Knights would get to within 23-22 and the serve, which had Magnolia on their heels. A Winters kill and a Kayna Anderson service points again gave them a hard-fought, 25-22 victory.

“Both of the first two sets, we dug ourselves a hole and dug ourselves out of the hole, and in both of them we had a chance to win those at the end,” Summers said.

In the third set, it was all Magnolia as Pilant and Winters combined for 13 kills, while Winters was “the girl” with five blocks to lead the way to a 25-8 victory. The young Eagles ended the season at 46-7-1, winning the school’s fourth overall state crown and first for Chapman. In the process, the senior-laden Silver Knights went down for the sixth time in seven attempts against the Big Blue this season.

Winters finished with 15 kills, 38 digs, eight blocks; she scored four points, with two aces, while the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 3A Player of the Year Pilant finished the night with two service aces, 25 kills, two kills, 11 digs and a block. MHS Libero, Kayna Anderson scored two points and also registered 34 digs, while Liza Clegg compiled 13 points with three aces, four digs and made one kill.

In addition, Lenieca Grimm provided eight points, 14 digs and dished out 34 assists, while Parsons responded with eight points with an ace, four digs, two kills and blocks. Jaci Rhode bumped up four digs and recorded the third set match point with a kill. Zoey Jenkins bumped up six digs for the rest of the Blue Eagles’ statistics. Parsons is the only senior on the Blue Eagles squad who will be lost to graduation next fall.

Tyler Consolidated’s Emily Lancaster paced the Silver Knights with eight kills, three blocks and just as many digs, while Regan Smith stuffed the stat sheet with six points with one ace, four blocks, two kills and a pair of digs. JoLee Walton ended her Silver Knight volleyball career with 21 assists, 18 digs, two points with one ace and a block.

In addition, Peyton Kocher finished with five points and eight digs, while Josey Jones had 13 digs, six kills, three blocks, and scored a service point. Alexa Johnson made six kills, while Cora Grimm tallied five points. Madison DeVaughn recorded two points with an ace, while Victoria Hood rejected a shot for all the Silver Knights’ statistics.

The Silver Knights (35-14) finished as state runner-up for the fourth time in the past seven. Tyler, also the LKC champions, will lose seniors Emily Lancaster, JoLee Walton, Cora Grimm, Peyton Kocher, Alexa Johnson and Josey Jones.

Asking Coach Chapman what could be more exciting than a state championship, and perhaps a repeat performance in 2019, she answered, “I’m sure we will have a target on our back as usual,” Chapman said. “I think our program has a good reputation, and that’s what we tell the girls. There is a target on our back no matter what.

“I think we will be strong again next year. We have to find somebody to replace Kennedy. You know, I’m not saying we will be here. I’m just saying we’ll make a good run at it.”

Pilant, Winters and Anderson from Magnolia were joined by Walton, Jones and Smith from Tyler Consolidated, as well as Bethany Arnold and Faith Hoosier of Williamstown, and Aaliyah Brunny of Parkersburg Catholic, respectively, and were given All-Tournament honors.

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Magnolia Aces Greater Beckley Christian, 3-0

In the first match in the WVSSAC Class A championships, Nov. 9 inside the Charleston Civic Center, six of Lady Eagles collected at least one ace in beating Greater Beckley Christian – 25-9, 25-12 and 25-10 – to advance to the night-cap against Parkersburg Catholic.

Mady Winters stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points with one ace, while collecting 13 digs and bashing 15 kills in leading the Blue Eagles. Kyndra Pilant also stuffed the stat sheet with four points with one ace, 19 kills, 11 digs and four blocks. Lenieca Grimm dished out 39 assists, while bumping up eight digs and scoring seven points, including an ace.

Liza Clegg recorded 10 points with two aces, and compiled four digs, while Kennedy Parsons recorded seven points with one ace, bumped up seven digs and hammered five kills. Kayna Anderson tallied five points with one ace and collected 23 digs, while Zoey Jenkins provided six digs. Alyssa Kochert and Jaci Rhode bumped up three and one dig, respectively, for all the Magnolia statistics.

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Magnolia Crushes Parkersburg Catholic, 3-0

It was a little harder, but the young Eagles kept Parkersburg Catholic in check with 61 digs, while the Bash Sisters Kyndra Pilant and Mady Winters compiled, between them, 33 kills en route to a 25-14, 25-13 and 25-16 victory, which sent the Lady Eagles to the state Class A championships.

Winters had a triple-double with 24 service points with seven aces, 11 digs, 10 kills, and four blocks to lead the way. Pilant added seven points with one ace, 24 kills, 12 digs and blocked two shots. Lenieca Grimm passed out 38 assists, 10 digs and scored four points, while Kennedy Parsons provided six kills, five digs and two kills.

Kayna Anderson continued to showcase her Libero skills and collected 25 digs and scored two points, while making countless saves to keep volleys alive. Jaci Rhode, Zoey Jenkis and Alyssa Kocher combined for eight digs for all the Magnolia statistics.