The action was fierce around the net as West Union hosted North Adams in Southern Hills Athletic Conference volleyball action on August 19. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

The action was fierce around the net as West Union hosted North Adams in Southern Hills Athletic Conference volleyball action on August 19. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (2) goes up for a return as the Lady Dragons battled North Adams in SHAC volleyball action on August 19 at WUHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter) </p>

West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (2) goes up for a return as the Lady Dragons battled North Adams in SHAC volleyball action on August 19 at WUHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

After 26 consecutive match wins in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference and two consecutive volleyball gold ball trophies, Coach Katie Ragan and her North Adams Lady Devils put that streak on the line on August 19 as they opened their 2025 season with a trip down Rte. 136 to face off with Coach Kiersten Rowe and her West Union Lady Dragons. On paper, again it looked as if the Lady Devils were big favorites, but they don’t play the games on paper and the home team gave their guests all they could handle, taking the match to four sets before the Lady Devils prevailed, 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-5.

Though their early season record may not reflect it yet, the Lady Dragons under head coach Rowe are a much improved squad and that showed in the first set against North Adams when they jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind the service efforts of Violet Randolph. The Lady Devils bounced back with designated server Addison Shupert firing off an ace, but the home team extended their lead to 11-6 with a pair of service points from Maddie Stout.

A flurry of service errors plagued both sides midway through the first set as the Lady Dragons pushed their advantage out to seven points at 15-8 with Emmy Stapleton at the serve. North Adams again rallied with Shupert serving and Emma Pistole dominating the net. The Lady Devils cut the deficit to 17-15 on a pair of Pistole kills before the West Union side again rallied, winning a long volley to go up 21-16 and then tacked on two more points to match their largest lead of the set.

Trailing 23-17, North Adams sent senior Paige Evans back to serve and she reeled off five consecutive points to pull her team within one but the next side out went the way of West Union and the Lady Dragons wrapped up the set on a service point from Harlee Hayslip, winning wire-to-wire 25-22.

Early in the second set, the Lady Devils snapped a 2-2 tie, again with Shupert serving and never trailed for the remainder of the set. The lead went from 4-2 to 13-8 before West Union scored two straight to make it 13-10. The Lady Dragons stayed within striking distance but could never take a lead as the Lady Devils fought off the challenges with Natalie Ragan serving two aces and Elizabeth Raines serving the final four points of a 25-17 North Adams win that evened up the match.

After dropping the second set, the Lady Dragons took a quick 5-2 lead in the third, only to see their visitors garner 14 of the next 16 points to move in front 16-7. In that run, North Adams got kills from both Ava and Emma Pistole and a string of seven consecutive service points from Evans as the momentum of the match took a major shift. West Union battled back from that onslaught with Hayslip serving for six points, aided by two impressive blocks at the net from Jocelyn Hall and in the blink of an eye the North Adams lead was sliced to just 16-14.

Back came the Lady Devils with five straight points with Raines serving aided by a kill from freshman Sophia Barlow but eh back and forth continued with West Union getting three in a row to make it 21-17. Though their lead was threatened, the North Adams girls put up four of the next five points, the final coming on a West Union service error for a 25-18 North Adams win and a 2-1 match advantage.

After battling hard for three sets, the maximum effort may have taken its toll on the West Union squad as they could get nothing at all going in the decisive fourth set. North Adams dominated the eventual final set from start to finish, getting service points from Barlow and Ragan, service aces from Shupert, and kills from Emma Pistole as they rolled to a 25-5 win and took the match three sets to one.

“The finish was much better than the start,” said Coach Ragan after the win. “We were really tight and stressed in that first set. Our girls were all worried about their SHAC winning streak and I told them to forget that and just go out and win this match, nothing to do with previous years. I guess we had some first game jitters, at least that’s what the girls tried to convince me of. Our passing got better as the night went on and I was really encouraged by the play of Sophia (Barlow), a freshman who just has a lot of raw talent and keeps getting better each day and the other girls have been very helpful to her.

On the stat sheet, the Lady Devils were paced by 14 kills from Emma Pistole plus 11 more from Paige Evans. Setter Natalie Ragan added 35 assists while four players reached double figures in digs- Evans (14), Ragan (14), Elizabeth Raines (16) and Morgan Wheeler (18). The freshman Barlow added five blocks at the net.

For West Union, Madison Stout led the team with three kills, with Annabelle McIntosh dishing out six assists. The Lady Dragons had five players hit double digits in digs- McIntosh (22), Stout (21), Violet Randolph (20), Stapleton (13) and Hayslip (12).