photo by: Nick Henthorn

Wheeling Park’s Italy Schroeder goes for a kill Tuesday against Steubenville inside the Palace on the Hill. It was Park’s first home game of the season.

WHEELING — Though both the Wheeling Park Patriots and Steubenville Big Red have a fair few games under their belt this season, Tuesday inside the Palace on the Hill was Park’s first home game of the year– a sign that the season is still young for both teams.

With both the Patriots and Big Red still finding their form as the season kicks into high gear, Tuesday was a good step for Steubenville, who swept Wheeling Park 25-20, 31-29, 25-15.

“We’re always proud of our team,” Steubenville head coach Logan Colabella said. “We know Wheeling Park’s a well-coached team, and a good team, and that second set could have gone either way. We were just happy to see our girls not give up and keep pushing until they won that set. You’re always worried by the time the third set rolls around of what’s going to happen, if they used all their energy, but they came out strong and that’s what we like to see.”

Steubenville secured the first set on a kill by A’rya Bigsby, who tied for Steubenville’s team-high with seven kills, and who led her team with nine digs.

Big Red jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the second set, but Wheeling Park battled by to knot the set 20-20. The set was primed to go over the 25-point threshold when the two teams were tied 24-24, and the score see-sawed back and forth all the way past the 30-point mark before a Wheeling Park mis-hit out of bounds gave Steubenville a final 31-29 advantage.

Steubenville ran away with the third set, getting out to a 15-6 lead and finishing the match on a Phynyx Fleming kill.

“The first set, I thought we came back and fought hard,” Wheeling Park head coach Samantha Gentle said. “And even in the second set, I thought my kids really responded and fought to the very last point, and it just didn’t go our way. The third set kind of got away from us early on.

“Definitely not our best night, but Steubenville has a very good team, so they did some things that maybe we weren’t ready for, so we just need to prepare a little bit better.”

Aubrey Slussar racked up 26 assists for Steubenville, while Emma Lyons had five blocks to lead the team.

Andrea Lowe finished with three aces for Wheeling Park, while Italy Schroeder led the way with 10 kills, and Marissa led likewise in digs with 23. Gracyn Davis’s 14 assists led Park.

Wheeling Park is six games into their season, Steubenville seven. With many more games to come, the Patriots (2-3-1) are still finding their footing, while Steubenville (3-4) feels like they are hitting their stride, winners of their last three.

“I think now we’re starting to pick up the momentum and we’re going in the direction that we should be going,” Colabella said. “They play well together and that’s the biggest thing I think you need and we’re a strong hitting team, so I think that’s what always stands out to us– but we also pass the ball and set the ball well also.”

“We’re still figuring things out,” Gentle said. “We have a lot of sophomores on the team that we’re moving around and seeing where they can fit in. But we have some senior leadership that we’re really excited about. So I feel good about our trajectory. I think we’re going to be a lot better at the end of the season than we are now. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”