It was a battle at the net all night between these two outstanding hitters, Peebles’ Amryn Carroll (31) and West Union’s Shelbi Weakley (22). (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles’ Kaelyn Musser (3) goes up for the kill attempt while West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (2) readies for a block attempt as the two teams battled in SHAC action on August 21. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles’ Aiva Brumley, who finished the match with 12 kills and seven aces, lines up a serve in the Lady Indians’ four-set win at West Union on August 21. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
West Union libero Violet Randolph readies a serve attempt as the Lady Dragons hosted Peebles in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Just two nights after suffering a tough four-set loss to North Adams, the West Union Lady Dragons were back on their home court and back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action, hosting another county rival, the Peebles Lady Indians. Both teams were looking for their first win of the season and the fans that were in attendance were treated to an entertaining evening dominated by strong play at the net with “kills” being the buzzword of the contest. In the end though it was deja vu for the Lady Dragons. Just as they had done with North Adams, the West Union squad took the first set of the match but then dropped the next three as first-year Peebles head coach Mariah Page and her Lady Indians got their first “W” of 2025.
“We have improved over last year,” said Coach Page in her postgame radio interview. “One of our seniors, Ella Richards, who was one of our middle hitters, was inuured at practice so we were plugging in girls in different spot and I told the girls, ‘If it’s gona work, it’s gonna work.’ We made the changes and we rolled with it.”
The first set of last Thursday’s match up was a tight one until the Lady Dragons put together a run of seven out of 10 points, paced by the serves of Paige Tolle and took a 20-12 lead. That run was enough to put the home team in the driver’s seat and with Shelbi Weakley serving a pair of aces and Jocelyn Hall adding a kill, the Lady Dragons took the first set 25-15.
The second set was a different story and belonged to a pair of Peebles hitters, Aiva Brumley and Amryn Carroll. The duo combined for eight kills in the second set as the Lady Indians fought back to even the match. Two Brumley kills and a service ace from Aubrey Sturgill gave Peebles an early lead which the Lady Dragons erase with a pair of aces from Tolle. With West Union in front 12-7, the Lady Indians went on an 11-0 run, with Brumley serving four aces and Carroll adding two kills and quickly the momentum of the match made a shift. Later in the set,a trio of service points from freshman Jillian Bailey put Peebles up 22-13, but credit the Lady Dragons for a late rally. With Maddie Stout serving four consecutive points and Weakley slamming down three kills, the home team battled back to within 24-20 but the final point of the set went the way of the visitors as they evened the match at one apiece.
The third set was neck and neck most of the way with neither side leading by more than three points until a late Peebles run. The Peebles points in set number three seemed to all have the work “kill” behind them and they took a 9-8 lead after a trio of service aces from Carroll. The Lady Dragons regained the lead with three consecutive kills from Emmy Stapleton and the back and forth continued as the set progressed. Kills by Carroll, Bailey and Kaelyn Musser put Peebles up 23-19 and a later Brumley kill sealed a 25-22 1in for the Lady Indians and a 2-1 match advantage.
A match between two evenly-matched teams continued into the fourth set, which mirrored the third in its back and forth nature. Again, neither team could gain much of a lead as the kills on both sides continued to add up. A kill from the lefty Musser pulled Peebles to within one and a later ace from Alyssa Smalley kept the visitors close, but four straight service points from Stout moved the Lady Dragons in front 22-16 and it looked like a decisive fifth set was imminent. Up 23-17, a service error by the home team gave the serve back to the Lady Indians and they took advantage to pull within 23-21. The next point went to West Union, putting them just one point from forcing a fifth set but they couldn’t slam the door as serves from Sturgill and back-to-back kills from Bailey and Brumley fueled a 5-0 Peebles run that gave the set and match to the Lady Indians, 26-24 in the fourth.
”Amryn (Carroll) and Jillian (Bailey) really stepped up tonight,” said Coach Page. “They were playing different spots and it worked for them and it was Jillian’s first varsity game. Aiva (Brumley) has really taken to her role and dominated tonight.”
