By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Though the final record may not look indicative, a productive first season at the helm of head coach Kiersten Rowe with the West Union Lady Dragons volleyball came to an abrupt end on October 18 in Division III sectional tournament action. The Lady Dragon hosted the Coal Grove Lady Hornets in a sectional semi-final contest and after taking the first set, the home team fell in the next three, all very competitive, but nevertheless the three sets that ended the West Union season.
In the first set, the Lady Dragons fell behind early but rallied to take their first lead at 13-12 after a Payton Stapleton service ace and extended the lad with an Audrey Weakley kill. The Lady Hornet rallied to tie but back to back to back kills by Korynne Blanton out the hosts back on top. The two teams traded points down the stretch before an Ashlah Staten kill was the final point in a 25-23 first set win for the Lady Dragons.
In the second set, the Lady Hornets buzzed out to a 20-9 advantage only to see West Union come off the mat to draw back to within 24-22 but an acrobatic West Union return went wide on the final point for a 25-22 Coal Grove win to even the match.
The third set was another tight one though at one point the Lady Dragons pulled in front 16-10, only to again see Coal Grove come from behind to take a 23-22 lead. A nice return by Elayna Kingsolver tied the set at 23 but the final two points went to the visitors and they went up 2-1 in the match.
Again in the fourth set the two evenly matched teams battled to the wire after another West Union comeback, but it was Coal Grove taking the match with a 25-21 fourth set victory.
“We’ve done that all season, for some reason our team just likes to dig a hole,” said Coach Rowe in her postgame radio interview. “I just tell them to just keep their heads up and keep playing and I think tonight they did that. I told the girls in the locker room that it’s hard to take a loss but when you play that well as a coach I have nothing bad to say.”
The loss was the final game in the careers of West Union seniors Audrey Weakley, Carly Leonard and Payton Stapleton.
“We have some huge shoes to fill next season,” says Coach Rowe. “They were all such positive players and models for our younger girls.”