Photo by Kim North Wheeling Central’s Alexis Hood (7) sets the ball for a teammate as Monroe Central’s Jacey English (19) awaits the return.

WHEELING — An early season showdown between OVAC volleyball powers turned into a one-sided affair Wednesday night.

Homestanding Wheeling Central (4-1) displayed its strength at the net as it recorded a sweep of Monroe Central (3-1) on Skip Prosser Court by scores of 25-15, 28-26 and 25-19. Both entered the contest among the top teams in Class 2A.

“We knew they were going to be a good competitor, so after we figured out what they were doing we worked around it,” Wheeling Central head coach Kara Conners said.

The first set was deadlocked 10 times, the last at 14-all before Wheeling Central reeled off 11 of the final 12 points for the 25-15 nod.

The second set was also a back-and-forth affair as there were also 10 ties. The Maroon Knights trailed 26-25 before running off three consecutive points for the win.

Knotted at 11 in the third set, Wheeling Central pulled ahead 15-11, but Monroe Central cut the deficit to 16-15. However, after a timeout by the hosts, they went on a 9-4 burst that sealed the deal.

“We have fantastic net play,” Conners said. “Our middles. Our right sides. Our left sides. They are just connecting with the other players. It takes them all.”

Conners went on to say that her team has 11 seniors that have been playing together since they were young.

“They started playing together in ninth grade and this is kind of the culmination of a lot of hard work on their parts,” the coach stressed.

Nicole Reasbeck stuffed the stat sheet for the winners with an eye-popping 20 kills, 18 digs, three assists, a trio of blocks and two aces. She wasn’t alone, however.

Kamy Conners added a dozen kills and a like number of digs, while Alexis Hood chipped in 21 assists and 11 digs. Libero Gabby Leadbitter finished with 13 digs and Ashlynn Knight had nine digs, four blocks and a trio of aces. Delaney O’Connell charted eight digs and three kills, while Lainey Peters contributed nine assists.

“We’re still working on getting better. We haven’t seen an opponent like this and we started a week later than everyone else,” Monroe Central head coach Jeanette Schwall said. “I thought we did a good job of blocking, but we’ve got a lot of work to improve on it.”

The Seminoles were led by Kynzi Bishop with six points and five kills. Abby Thompson added six blocks and four kills, while Jacey English charted seven points and a like number of digs. Olivia Valkovic had 10 assists; Maclarin Craft nine digs and Kyra English eight assists.

Wheeling Central travels to Ritchie County on Saturday for a quad. Monroe Central visits Bridgeport tonight.

Union Local sweeps Linsly

MORRISTOWN — The Jets stayed perfect both in matches and sets on Wednesday sweeping Linsly by scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-16.

Leading the way once again for the Jets was senior standout Torre Kildow. She had 19 kills, 15 digs, four aces and seven aces.

Olivia Wortman had five kills and five digs, while Kelly Gress had four kills, 10 digs and 32 assists. Julie Broussard had seven digs and Emma Yager had seven digs and three kills. Emmy Kellaway posted 14 digs. Alli Briggs netted five kills.

For Linsly, Avery Sadlowski led the team with 10 kills. Rumer Beazel had seven kills, Alayna Cook recorded three aces and Celia Demarchi had five digs. Ava Ganier helped with 15 assists while London Podobnick had eight.

River Gets First Win

BRIDGEPORT — River picked up its first win of the season on Wednesday, downing Bridgeport in five sets by scores of 21-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21 and 16-14.

The Pilots were led by Reese Hobbs’ 11 points, five aces and six kills. Emma Reed had six kills. Zoey Fox had seven kills and three blocks. Easton Dye had 11 assists. Meighan Straub posted eight digs and 11 assists, while Kyra Cisar had five digs.

The Bulldogs were led by Ashlynn Allen’s five aces, eight kills and seven digs. Kaylee Bain had seven aces, three kills and 10 digs. Campbell Kropka added 13 assists and four digs. Markiee McCormick had 16 assists, five kills and eight digs. Josalyn Canter had seven kills and 11 digs, while Vanessa Mullen added 23 digs. Brooke Stewart was charted for three aces, two kills and nine digs.

Bellaire edges Buckeye Local

BELLAIRE — The Big Reds picked up their fourth win of the season by toppling Buckeye Local in five sets. Bellaire prevailed by scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 22-25 and 15-8.

Leading the way for Bellaire was Gianna Schmidt with 11 kills, six aces and 13 digs. Gracelyn Maupin had 20 assists, three aces and seven digs. Brooklyn Zonker had 14 kills, eight aces, four blocks and 13 digs. Lexi Morgan had 10 kills and 15 digs. Deena Call added four kills and three blocks, while Sidney Rowson posted 12 digs. Jadyn Thornton had six digs and three blocks. Ava Marinacci posted 18 assists and three aces.

GOLF

Mohigans wins Brooke Invitational

WELLSBURG — Morgantown shot 312 Wednesday to win the Brooke Invitational, played for the first time at Highland Springs Golf Course.

The Mohigans were four shots better than runner-up Linsly (316). John Marshall (325), Parkersburg South (330) and Wheeling Central (337) rounded out the top five. Brooke (376), Oak Glen (411) and Weir (431) also competed.

Linsly’s Matteo Guzzo shot 74 to claim medalist honors. John Marshall’s Ethan Cook and Morgantown’s Gabe Watson were next at 76.

Landon Prager shot 76 to lead Wheeling Central, Nic Cipoletti led Brooke with an 87, Oak Glen was paced by Logan Weekley’s 98 and Jude Smith’s 86 was the best from Weir.

Wheeling Park tops OVAC foes

WHEELING — The Patriots topped a pair of OVAC opponents at the Jones Course with a score of 321, better than Dover (339) and Marietta (340).

Park’s Gavin Goodrich was the match medliast at even-par 71.

Buckeye Local prevails

RAYLAND — Buckeye Local picked up another victory on Wednesday thanks to a solid round of 164, which was 33 shots better than Toronto at BecWood Hills.

Senior Aiden Polanski shot a round of 38 to win the medalist honors for the Panthers.