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Three OVAC Volleyball Titles in a Row For Paden City

Wildcats Sweep Cougars in 1A Match

Photo by Kyle Lutz Paden City’s Maggi Still goes up for a ball during the OVAC Class 1A championship match against Frontier. The Wildcats secured their third straight conference title.

MORRISTOWN — The Paden City volleyball team has shown over recent years that it is a perennial power in OVAC Class 1A, no matter who it puts on the court.

The Wildcats have found much success with a handful of underclassmen taking the majority of the reps. This year was no exception and Paden City just reloaded from last year’s OVAC championship squad.

Playing with only two seniors, Paden City took command early and had little trouble as it defeated Frontier 25-14, 25-14, 25-11 to secure its third straight OVAC Class 1A title Saturday afternoon at Union Local High School.

“It’s pretty sweet that we’ve been able to come here for three years and take care of business,” Paden City (24-4) coach Jennifer Yeater said. “We had two starters Mallory (Yeater) and Hope (Weber) have started since their freshman year. They’ve been apart of this, all three championships. It’s pretty sweet.

“We work hard in the offseason and it shows during the regular season.”

Mallory Yeater and Weber are both juniors and will return to try and help the Wildcats go for four in a row.

Mallory Yeater stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, four kills, nine assists and 17 digs while Weber collected 10 points, 17 kills, five assists and 14 digs.

The two seniors that saw the floor were Cora Anderson and Isabella Beverlin. Anderson had nine points, three aces and 13 digs while Beverlin totaled nine points.

With the senior leadership there, the underclassmen also did their job as two freshmen saw the court along with two sophomores and three juniors.

“Playing in the offseason helps,” Coach Yeater said about finding success while playing with many underclassmen. “I have four club players so keeping the volleyball in their hands, they have the right attitude and they have the right work ethic. They set a great example even though they are freshmen. They bring it to the table every day at practice.

“I’m real proud of their efforts and what they bring to the program. The next three years are going to be bright.”

The Wildcats scored 12 of the first 14 points in the first set and never looked back en route to a 25-14 victory to go up 1-0.

In the second set, the Wildcats had to work a little bit as the Cougars (14-7) were able to take their first lead of the match, but were unable to keep the momentum going. They led by two on multiple occasions, but Paden City rallied.

“That’s what knew what we had to do,” Coach Yeater said about starting fast. “We faced Frontier a couple other times throughout the season and we knew we had to get out to a strong start, keep the energy on our side and if we were able to do that, I knew we were going to be able to pull it off. They stepped up to the plate and kept that energy high. We needed some big hitters to come through (Saturday) and they did.”

The Wildcats again started off hot in the third set, taking six of the first seven points. But the Cougars cut the lead to two down the stretch (10-8). Paden City, though, ended all hopes of a comeback as it scored 15 of the next 18 points to secure the match.

“We couldn’t get in a rhythm,” Frontier coach Donna Murphy said. “As far as the hitters, we hit too many out. The girls still hustled, we didn’t quit. But we needed to take care of business and we didn’t.”

Logan Haught totaled seven assists and nine digs for the Cougars while Alexis Bland had three points, three blocks and three digs. Mariah Bowersock had five kills and three blocks and McKaylyn Bowersock had four assists and five digs.

McKenzie Thomas was also solid for Paden City with four points, five kills and four assists while Tanley McEldowney had four points and 22 digs. Maggi Still collected six kills and five digs and Brandis Dalrymple had four blocks.

“I’ve had these girls for two years and we’ve been able to do a lot in those two years,” Coach Yeater said. “I’m happy with our success and the attitudes of the players and the efforts makes my job a lot easier.”

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