Oak Glen picks up steam
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WEIRTON, W.Va. -- As the season nears crunch time, the Oak Glen volleyball team boosted its efforts for a strong push towards the post season with a couple of rivalry wins Tuesday night.
The defending state champion Golden Bears swept their way to wins over Hancock County rivals Madonna and Weir High as part of a tri-match on Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Field House.
The now 17-7 Golden Bears, who entered the week in position to return to the OVAC tournament, topped the Blue Dons, another team in position to play in the OVAC tournament, 25-14 and 25-18, then pulled away from the Red Riders on both sets of the late match for a 25-21, 25-14 victory and sweep of the night.
“It felt good, it was a full team effort all the way around,” Oak Glen head coach Morgan Saddler said. “It’s always fun to get the county schools together and play matches against each other. It was a good turnout from the community and a good atmosphere in here.
“Our biggest focus coming into tonight was playing with urgency and at our tempo and keeping up the pressure, and I felt like we did a good job of that in both matches.”
Against the Blue Dons, the Golden Bears got five kills from Mattie Carney, 12 assists, six kills and three digs from Mikalyn Balch, 12 assists, two aces and three digs from Bryson Adams, two aces and three digs from Kendall Six and 12 digs Keira Vick.
In their win over the Red Riders, Oak Glen received five kills, 10 assists, six digs and three aces from Balch, six kills from Audrina May, five kills from Caitlyn Six, seven assists and five digs from Adams, six digs from Vick and five digs and two kills from Carney.
Earlier in the night, the host Red Riders (7-11) started their night off strong, pulling away from Madonna in both sets for a 25-20, 25-16 victory to open the action.
In the late game, the Riders had their moments against the Golden Bears, opening a 10-4 lead in the first set and rallying back to tie the second set after getting in an early hole, but just could not finish in either set.
“We played hard,” Weir High head coach Fran Capaldi said. “I thought we competed well. We made a few too many mistakes when we had the momentum (against Oak Glen), especially in the second set, but we played hard all night.
“It was good to have everyone here tonight and play the local teams, we did it a few years ago and it was a lot of fun and we were happy to do it again. It was a good night of volleyball.”
The Red Riders, in their win over Madonna (16-10), got 13 assists, 11 digs, two aces and a kill from Ella Kaufman, two kills, two aces and two digs from Gabby Sprouse, five digs, two kills and an ace from Zoey Spencer, four kills from Kylie McPherson, four kills from Zanyah Whitaker, nine digs from Alivia Maciek and five digs from Lauren Nagy.
In the late game, Weir got two kills and two aces from Spencer, four kills from McPherson, seven digs and nine assists from Kaufman and four digs an an ace from Maciek
UP NEXT
Madonna: Hosts OVAC Class 2A leader Toronto on Thursday.
Oak Glen: Has another rivalry game tonight, crossing the bridge to battle East Liverpool on the road.
Weir High: Continues a busy stretch of four games in three nights with a trip to Big Red tonight.