Martins Ferry Wins 16th Straight To Open Season, Sweeps Park
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MARTINS FERRY - With Homecoming in the rear view mirror and a match with Beaver Local on Wednesday for the Buckeye 8 championship, Martins Ferry remained focused on one match at a time Tuesday.
The state-ranked Purple Riders (16-0) earned their 11th sweep of the season with a 25-11, 25-23 and 25-14 victory over the visiting Patriots (8-16-1) on Senior Night high atop the Purple City inside Tolbert Gymnasium.
"The girls were pretty focused on tonight," Martins Ferry head coach Jaela Koller said. "We had practice the day after Homecoming and the girls struggled, but I was glad to see them respond the way they did tonight."
With the win, the talented seven-member senior class, of which at least five play multi-sports, ran their career volleyball record to 63-23. In three seasons, they are also 50-20 in basketball and 66-14 in softball. As junior high standouts, they were an astonishing 71-1 in basketball and volleyball.
"I tell the girls on the bench every match to be ready for when your name is called," Koller said. "It was a team effort. It's a team sport and it is 100 percent about us. There is no I in our team."
The Purple Riders, who were No. 3 in the third installment of the Ohio Volleyball Coaches Association Division V poll earlier in the week, snapped a 1-all deadlock in the first set by scoring eight of the next nine points for a 9-2 advantage they would not give up.
After the Patriots crept to within 9-7, Martins Ferry reeled off six of the next seven to bump the margin to 15-8. Following a point by Wheeling Park, the hosts ran off eight consecutive points with senior Maddie Lucas at the service line. However, it was the play of junior front-liner Nicole Hammerquist that sparked the run as she recorded four kills, a tip and a block in the surge.
Martins Ferry sealed the deal when senior Giana Chirpas sent a laser off the floor.
In the second set, Wheeling Park played much better and drew even at 22 on a service ace by Morgan Zoladz and took a 23-22 lead before a kill by Olivia Harkness ignited a set-ending trio of points as another Chirpas kill ended things.
Martins Ferry was never really threatened in the third set as it continued to score 3-4 points at a time while Wheeling Park couldn't string much together.
"They've got a great all-around team, so we knew it was going to be a challenge coming in but I'm pleased with the way my girls responded, especially in the second set," Wheeling Park head coach Samantha Gentle said. "We tried our best in that second set. We want to build on that."
Hammerquist, Chirpas and Maddie Lucas led the Purple Riders at the net while Harkness continued her fine setting and SJ Koller once again displayed her acrobatics in registering digs.
Andrea Lowe recorded 13 digs to lead the Patriots while Olivia Hengler had nine assists. Kat Schnacke, Korrine Farley, Zoladz and Italy Schroeder all had three kills.
No stats were available for Martins Ferry.
Honored in pre-match festivities were Martins Ferry seniors Giana Chirpas, Cam Donahue, SJ Koller, Gracie Lucas, Maddie Lucas, Cadence Oberle and Alivia Reese.
Beaver Local, the North Division champion, and Martins Ferry, champion of the South Division, will battle for the Buckeye 8 title at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the ECO Center as part of the Buckeye 8 Placement Day which is Saturday. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the Beavers are not able to play Saturday.