Fairmont -- Doddridge County had its Cinderella run
at the Class AA-A volleyball title ended Saturday when
Wirt County defeated the Bulldogs, 15-11, 11-15, 15-2,
and 15-9 in semifinal action of the 22nd annual West
Virginia State Volleyball Tournament at East Fairmont
High School.
"It's sad that the season is over, but yet our girls
accomplished a lot," Doddridge County coach Kris
Bonnell said. "Wirt played really good, and they have
a great program. We played them three times this year
and lost to them three times."
The Bulldogs battled throughout the opening game and
held an 11-10 advantage over the Tigers, before Wirt
County reeled off five unanswered points. Brandy Higgins led the Tigers with
six points, while Heather Wyckoff topped Doddridge's
scoring with four points.
Doddridge stormed back in the second game, shutting
down Wirt County's offense with the scored knotted at
11-11. The Bulldogs scored the final four points to
tie the match at one game each. Karen Kellar was the
leading server with five points, while Judi Rose and
Kate Clark controlled the net.
Wirt County (36-15-2) then took control of the match,
shutting down the Doddridge offense and limiting its
own mistakes to advance to the title game for the
second time in the past three years.
Kim Hinzman led Doddridge with 10 points,
while Kellar added eight points and 35
assists, and Wyckoff added eight points. Rose
was the Bulldogs leader with 23 kills and Clark
tallied a team-best five blocks.
"We finished this year with a 30-14 record," Bonnell
said. "That was quite an accomplishment for our team
considering that before October 10, we were 7-9. It's
going to be hard to replace the seniors that we're
losing, but we have a really young team and I think we
have a lot to look forward to next year."
The AA-A title will be a rematch of the 1998
championship as Oak Glen disposed of Frankfort 15-8,
15-8 and 15-8. In AAA semifinal action, Parkersburg
routed Hedgesville 15-0, 15-10 and 15-7 to advance,
while Parkersburg South edged Capital 12-15, 15-10,
15-7, 9-15 and 15-6 to set up an all-Wood County AAA
championship match.
