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Toronto, Wheeling Central, St. Clairsville OVAC Volleyball Champs

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Saturday at the ECO Center was a day of 'firsts' as the OVAC Volleyball Finals unfolded throughout the day.

For multiple champions, their conference titles were the first for their program, or at least the first in quite awhile.

Across the classes locally, the Toronto Red Knights won the 2A title, the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights won the 3A title, and the St. Clairsville Red Devils won the 4A title. John Marshall were runners-up in 5A as University claimed the gold.

Frontier won the 1A crown.

TORONTO CAPTURES FIRST-EVER OVAC TITLE

The Red Knights, seeded atop Class 2A, faced off with the two-seeded River Pilots, and secured their first-ever OVAC volleyball championship with a 3-1 match victory.

"It means everything," Toronto head coach Shannon Bahen said. "These kids have been in the gym every single day since June, unselfishly, regardless of what their role on the team is, they were all focused on one common goal and that was winning an OVAC championship for Toronto."

Toronto built a quick lead in the first set, a 12-5 early advantage prompting a River timeout, but the stoppage did little to slow the Red Knights' momentum as they cruised to a 25-14 first-set win.

In the second set, however, River were the early aggressors, their lead growing to as much as six at one point. Toronto stormed back to tie the set 22-22 after Danielle Sutherin posted an ace, and Addison Dobbs recorded back-to-back kills to give the Red Knights a 25-23 victory, leading 2-0.

The third set followed the same script-- River ahead early, and things tightening up late. The Pilots' Mallarie Maddy came up with a thunderous kill that broke a 15-15 tie, and River extended their advantage to a 21-16 count, staying alive by winning the set 25-21.

After dropping the third set, though, Toronto was all business for set No. 4. Toronto jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and Jayna Reeves came up with the final kill in the Red Knights' 25-18 match-clinching-- and title-clinching-- set.

"We told the girls, 75 points is all you need to win a championship," Bahen said. "And when we got up 2-0, we said, all we need is 25 more points. That’s the mentality they came out with. They didn’t let their foot off of the gas and they kept their energy up the whole time. Very happy for them."

WHEELING CENTRAL WINS FIRST OVAC TITLE IN 35 YEARS

The No. 1 Maroon Knights swept No. 2 Columbiana in the 3A Finals, the dominant 3-0 showing delivering Wheeling Central their first OVAC volleyball championship since 1991.

Wheeling Central head coach Grace White, though, wasn't satisfied after the match.

"We didn’t play our best," White said. "We got the job done. This was not our best showing. I think the environment’s a little new for us. Just, you know, the announcing between; you feel the weight of what this moment is. I mean, Central hasn’t had a volleyball champion in 35 years, and that’s been a little bit of added pressure. I like that we stayed together, we capitalized in the moments that we needed to, and we pulled it out."

Wheeling Central led almost the entire way through their three sets. The Maroon Knights won the first set 25-15, a big block by Morgan Miehle and Jackie Maxwell securing Central the set.

Central led early in the second set, but the Clippers battled back to tie things up 13-13, and a kill by Columbiana's Ava Marks gave the Clippers their first lead of the match to that point, 14-13. Still, Wheeling Central won the set 25-19 after a mishit by Columbiana.

Central was hardly challenged in the third set, doubling up the Clippers early in a 10-5 advantage, and sealing the sweep after an ace by Morgan Miehle.

"Super proud of them," White said. "We made goals at the beginning of this year and this was one of them. It feels really good to tick that off and keep going with our season, having this kind of reassurance of, hey, we can be in a championship environment and we can win. They were nervous like everyone is, but we think nerves are good. It means you care. And I think that they used that to their advantage today."

ST. CLAIRSVILLE OVERCOMES FERRY FOR FIRST TITLE SINCE '08

The St. Clairsville Red Devils had come up on the wrong end of their previous two meetings against Martins Ferry, losing 3-1 and 3-0. Saturday in the OVAC 4A Finals, though, St. C. came out on-top, besting the Purple Riders in four sets, 3-1.

"I’m still kind of in shock," St. Clairsville head coach Steve Harris said. "We set goals for ourselves and we push ourselves, and this was one of them-- if we trusted the process and we worked and we did that, we would get here. This year, every milestone that we set, almost, we’ve gotten there. And it’s been a great ride, and it’s been fun to see them react and keep working and keep pushing.

"This time of the year, so many teams get tired and worn out, but they have just been practicing hard and keeping focused, and it’s been absolutely fantastic."

The first set was a marathon, extending far beyond the 25-point threshold, as the Red Devils and Martins Ferry seemed to mirror each other kill-for-kill until the Riders' Giana Chirpas finally put the set to bed with a hard-hit kill that gave Martins Ferry a 31-29 win.

St. Clairsville, though, rallied to win the next three sets.

"It could have been deflating, but it just gave us confidence that we can play with them," Harris said. "I felt like we gave away too many. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the big moment, but then we cleaned that up and we started playing with a lot more confidence after that.

"We’re not afraid to lose sets. We knew it was going to be a battle, we were prepared for five sets. It was a pretty epic set. It was lots of energy back-and-forth all the way through 30. It was pretty good."

St. Clairsville started the second set strong, leading 10-5 and 20-11. An attack error gave St. C. the set, 25-17.

Vivian Harris was pivotal in the Red Devils securing the third set. Harris put down an early kill that gave St. C. a 9-5 lead, and then strung together a three-point sequence where she gave her team a 21-19 lead with a fireball of a kill, followed by back-to-back service aces to bring St. Clairsville ahead 23-19. After a Martins Ferry hit out of bounds, St. C. won 25-20.

St. Clairsville once again had the early lead, up 10-4 in the fourth set before a Martins Ferry timeout that seemed to re-orient the Purple Riders. Giana Chirpas put down a kill that trimmed the St. C. lead to one, 22-21, and after a long volley Maddie Lucas hammered down a kill that kept Ferry on their opponents' heels, 23-22.

It was an ace by Lola Schumacher, though, that secured the set and the match, 25-22, giving St. Clairsville their first title since 2008, according to Harris.

JOHN MARSHALL DROPS 5A FINALS IN FIVE SETS

After upsetting No. 1 Beaver Local, the Monarchs, seeded fourth in 5A, had another tough task on their hands in the form of No. 2 University. In the longest match of the day, John Marshall was saddled with a hard-fought five-set loss.

At the conclusion of the match, head coach Chelsea Eikleberry reflected back to the start of the match.

"That first set always gets us," Eikleberry said. "We just, for some reason, don’t play well in the first set."

John Marshall led for portions of the first set. Zoey Koontz nailed an ace that put the Monarchs ahead 13-11, and a kill by Isla Urbanek tied the set 16-16. The Hawks kept the lead from there though, winning the set 25-23 after a service error.

John Marshall built an early advantage in the second set, back-to-back kills by Sarah Naome giving JM a 12-8 lead. A University violation on a Sarah Hess serve gave the Monarchs the set, 25-19.

A soft kill by Gracen Chavanak secured the third set for John Marshall as well, 25-21.

University won the fourth set on a block by Avery Bland and Maggie Panson, 25-15, and a hit out of bounds gave the Hawks the all-important fifth set, 15-7.

"Honestly, I was pretty confident in that second and third," Eikleberry said. "I thought we battled and we came back. But you know what? University outplayed us when it mattered most in that fourth and fifth set. They showed up, they made the plays, and we didn’t.

"But I’m so proud of my girls with all the things that have been thrown at them this season. They continue to battle. We’ll learn from this. The OVAC is the OVAC, and now we have a state tournament to get ready for, and that’s what’s most important in our season right now."