Volleyball team eliminated
Berkeley Springs High School had a good year on the volleyball court, despite losing in the opening round of the West Virginia Class AA Region II Tournament to Section 1 champion, Philip Barbour, on Saturday, November 5 in Ridgeley.
The Indians advanced to the regional tournament with a hard fought victory (3-2) over Petersburg in the Section II semifinals on Monday, Octo-ber 31, also played at Frankfort High School.
Petersburg scored a 25-20 win in the opening game. Berkeley Springs won game two 25-17, but the Lady Vikings seized the upper hand with a 25-23 win in game three. The seesaw match continued as the the Tribe bounced back with a 25-18 victory in game four and then won the tiebreaker 16-14.
"We really battled it out with Petersburg in this game," said Berkeley Springs coach Heather Lorigan. “We lost one of our starters at the very beginning of the game with an ankle injury, so we had to switch up our normal rotation. Luckily, we adjusted and were able to come out with the win, thus clinching our spot in the regional tournament."
Toni Davison scored 16 points with six aces and six kills to pace the Lady Indians. Casey Solomon added 13 points and six kills, Erin Close 10 kills and six points and Brooklyn McCusker 17 points for Berkeley Springs.
The win advanced Berkeley to the sectional final to face perennial power Frankfort.
The Indians gave their sectional nemesis a strong battle in the first game, before falling 25-20. The Falcons then took the match, and the Section II championship, with respective wins of 25-15 and 25-5 in game two and three.
Natalie Redick had a team-high 17 assists in the loss, while McCusker added 11 assists and three points. Close had another solid outing with seven kills.
"We came out strong in the first and second games," Lorigan said. "We were moving, communicating and playing our game. However, we started to have a communication breakdown near the end of the second set and weren't able to recover from it. We're looking forward to the regional tournament."
The Indians returned to Ridgeley for the Region II Championship on Saturday to face Philip Barbour in one of the semifinal matches. The Lady Colts came out strong with a 25-10 win in the opening game and carried that momentum to a 3-0 sweep, by beating the Tribe 25-19 in game two and 25-5 in game three.
"Overall, I'm proud of how the ladies played tonight, especially in the second game when we found our stride," Lorigan said. “However, we weren't able to keep the momentum up in the third set and it led to a disappointing end to our season. We are graduating seven seniors, all of whom will be greatly missed."
The Lady Indians were led by McCusker with 11 assists, Davison with five digs and three kills and Solomon with four digs and three kills.
