Lady Bulldogs topple first-place Waynesburg, 3-0
FREDERICKTOWN — The Beth-Center volleyball team ended Waynesburg Central’s 22-game Section 3-AA unbeaten streak with a hard-fought 3-0 win Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd.
If the Lady Bulldogs (12-2, 10-1) defeat Brownsville at home on Thursday, B-C will clinch a tie for the section title with Waynesburg. The section crown would be the eighth in the school’s history and the first since 2009.
“I told the girls last week to take this all in,” B-C coach Steve Beyer said. “This is what high school volleyball is all about. There were two good teams out there and the gym was loud tonight. It was a great environment and hats off to the fans. What a moment for the girls and we just wanted to make memories for our seniors.”
B-C, which earned the sweep with scores of 25-21, 28-26 and 27-25, avenged an earlier 3-1 loss at Waynesburg on Sept. 21.
“From the beginning of the season we have talked about being section champion,” senior Kennedy Kuhns said. “That was our main goal this year. To be one win away from it is amazing, but we still have one more game to get. This is a huge win for us. Playing at home in this atmosphere really helped us out tonight.”
The Lady Raiders (13-3, 11-1) are idle on Thursday and will await their fate in the playoffs. This is the second straight section title for Waynesburg. The loss was the visitors’ first section setback since last year’s section opener at Brownsville.
“We have to regroup,” Waynesburg coach Dan Higginbotham said. “Hopefully we can hold it together and learn from this loss. It’s going to be a long bus ride home, but we will be ready for practice. We can’t point fingers. We have to come together as a team.”
B-C tallied the opening four points of the first set and led 19-10 after a kill from Kinlee Whited and an ace from Toni Elyea.
Waynesburg responded with a rally of its own, and after consecutive kills at the net by Abby Gibbons, the visitors trailed 22-18.
Leading by four, the Lady Bulldogs slammed the door shut on the opening set after splitting the final six points for the 25-21 victory.
It was back-and-forth in the second set with the squads trading points and rallies, but B-C broke away and held a 19-12 advantage.
Trailing by six, the Lady Raiders countered with a 12-1 spurt that gave them the lead back. The run ended with a kill form Mia Howard and a service point by Gibbons.
The Lady Bulldogs forced overtime with four straight points, and after both teams were on the cusp of taking the set, B-C took three of the final four points for a 28-26 win.
Waynesburg had early leads of 6-2, 10-5 and 17-9 in the third set, but just as it did throughout the night, B-C never wavered and came storming back.
After back-to-back kills from Kuhns made it 21-17, the Lady Bulldogs trailed moments later, 24-21, but the home team ended the final set of the night with a 6-1 rally for the sweep and their biggest win of the year.
“I think the play at the net was the difference tonight,” Beyer said. “Last time we played them, Kinlee was injured. She had an ankle injury and she has battled back through it so much. With Kinlee now in there, that opens up our offense. We can throw a lot of things at teams and score from anywhere on the court.”
Kuhns had 12 digs and six kills for B-C in the win, while Whited finished with 12 kills. Frankie Pryor (32 digs) and Mackenzie Crile (26 assists) also had good nights.
“We have a really good setter and she gives us a lot of good passes at the night,” Whited said. “We battled back the whole night.
“Our team has grown so much over the years. At first we were just happy to make the playoffs, now we are one win away from the section title. It’s so crazy and hopefully this can carry over for years to come.”
Gibbons led Waynesburg with 11 kills, while Abby Fisher dished out 19 assists. Emerson Foringer had 11 digs and Emma Robinson came off the bench with eight service points.
“We had no communication tonight,” Higginbotham said. “I didn’t sense this type of performance from us on the bus ride. We were pumped up and ready for this one. All three sets were hard fought, but Beth-Center outplayed us late in the sets.”