photo by: Kim North

John Marshall’s Sarah Naome (15) and Nia Miller (13) defend as Wheeling Park’s Morgan Zoladz (3) returns the ball during Tuesday night’s match inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ at Wheeling Park High School. Also pictured are Patriots’ Marissa Hunley (40) and Gracyn Davis (12). The Monarchs continued their fine play with a hard-fought 25-14, 25-21 and 25-23 victory over the Patriots.

WHEELING – The scores may tell you that John Marshall swept Wheeling Park in high school volleyball action Tuesday night, but the Monarchs’ victory didn’t come easy.

John Marshall prevailed by scores of 25-14, 25-21 and 25-23 inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ at Wheeling Park High School.

The win moves the Monarchs to 8-2 and keeps them close to No. 1 Morgantown (12-2) in the OVAC Class 5A standings. Wheeling Park, meanwhile, fell to 3-7-1 and is battling Parkersburg South (2-4) for the fifth spot.

“I think sometimes we get in our (own) heads and get a little comfortable,” John Marshall head coach Chelsea Eikleberry said. “But when we stay loose and have fun, that’s when we play our best. It comes in waves.”

The first set saw the two northern panhandle rivals deadlocked six times and the lead changed sides on five occasions before John Marshall pulled away. The Monarchs broke a 10-all logjam with seven of the next nine points. After the Patriots closed to within 17-13, John Marshall rattled off seven straight points, and eight of the final nine, for the win.

John Marshall sprinted to a 6-1 lead in the second set and led wire-to-wire in going up 2-0. Wheeling Park got to within 21-20, but a long serve gave the Monarchs a 22-20 advantage. A block by Sarah Naome made it 24-20, and after the Patriots made it 24-21, Naome closed it out with a thunderous kill.

The third, and final, set was knotted a dozen times, including 20-all, 21-all, 22-all and 23-all. In fact, the Patriots were serving after the last deadlock, but a block went off a Wheeling Park player and landed out of bounds for a 24-23 John Marshall lead. Naome concluded the match with her 16th kill.

“Playing together as a team. It’s not one single person,” Eikleberry said of her team’s success this fall. “It takes all 12 (girls) that are on varsity,” Eikleberry stressed. “We really focus on the positive mindset, and volleyball is a huge mental game. We really try to push that.

“We’re not playing our best volleyball yet, but we’re getting there,” she noted. “The girls are working hard and putting the time in in the gym.”

In addition to Naome’s kills, Nia Miller added 14. Masyn Inclan had 15 digs and Sarah Hess had four service aces.

“I was really proud of my girls and their resiliency. They didn’t give up and battled until the very end,” Wheeling Park head coach Samantha Gentle said. “They fought every point. We had no letdown. We come to win every set. It just didn’t work out today.”

The Patriots were led by Grace Tamburin with 10 kills. Marissa Hunley added 12 digs and Gracyn Davis finished with nine assists.

Wheeling Park travels to Morgantown on Thursday.

“It doesn’t get any easier for us,” Gentle said.

John Marshall travels to University on Thursday.