MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Questionable calls, a late-match comeback and another rivalry taken to five sets. The Mohigans-Hawks first matchup, labeled as one of the best Class AAA games of the season, pales in comparison to their second meeting.
The first meeting saw Morgantown (13-11) win sets 1 and 3, while University (15-4) took set 2, rally in set 4 to tie the match at 2-2 and ultimately win set 5, 16-14. Tuesday played out almost the same way with the Hawks winning all, 3-2 (25-21, 25-15, 15-11).
And albeit a loss to her rival school that snapped the Mohigans’ seven-game win streak, Morgantown coach Erica Manor isn’t thinking short-term – her mind continues to stay focused on the playoffs.
“We continue to gain information and learn, not only from our opponents but from our own mistakes as well,” Manor said. “I think both teams did a great job of grinding in the fourth set. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall our way, (but) we don’t need to be where we need to be yet.
“It’s not November, so we take this loss – as much as it hurts – and learn from it to get better.”
“It’s always intense when we play them,” University coach Don Godfrey said. “We got in our heads (in the second and third sets) and fell apart, but we picked it back up.”
University claimed the first set 25-21, though it wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Both teams started rusty trading serving errors, and it didn’t stop until UHS took a 19-14 lead at Morgantown’s first timeout. Errors were costly for both teams, but the Mohigans’ faults cost them the win.
But through the errors were glimpses of a strong Mohigans’ attack. The cracks expanded in set 2 with Morgantown going on 2- and 3-point runs to force a University timeout while leading 23-20. Morgantown pulled away in the end, winning the set 25-22.
University seemingly fell apart in the third set, giving up an 8-0 lead before putting a point on the board. Although slowing down the Mohigans’ attack and cutting the deficit to three, MHS pulled away at the end for a 25-20 win.
Set 4 played out much like the second. It was chippy and tight, but Ashten Boggs – who ended the night with eight kills on 15 attacks – took advantage of Morgantown’s errors while placing shots in the corners to take a seven-point lead. Morgantown, down seven, would fail to win another point and UHS won the crucial set 25-15.
The Hawks momentum carried over into the final set to take an early lead and seal the night with a kill to setter Brooke Lyons for a 15-11 win.
Morgantown’s top attacker Alayna Corwin ended the night with a season-high 19 kills and senior McKayla Mills had 14 kills. Libero Asia Halbritter had 16 digs and two aces.
“We had some girls come off the bench tonight that did a really good job. I think that was what made the difference,” Godfrey said.
Set 3 shed light on how powerful Mohigans can be
Morgantown’s seven-win streak may have ended against the Hawks, but set 3 proved how vicious the Mohigans can be with everything clicking.
Corwin’s 19 kill line is monumental for the junior who leads the team and has garnered the unofficial nickname “the go-to girl.”
Her 169 kills rank her No. 25 in the West Virginia, according to MaxPreps. She also has 40 aces which ranks her No. 40 in the state. Additionally, sophomore Grace Washburn’s .322 hitting percentage ranks her No. 10.
Questionable calls showed no favor
The referees had a rough night with plenty of questionable calls on both teams. As fast-paced as the match was, the first referee had to ask the second referee to make the call in the final two sets and called his line judges over twice.
Two major calls showed no favor to either team, however. One came in the third set after a kill by Corwin’s was challenged. The other came in the fifth set when UHS challenged a missed four-hit call by the referee who made the teams replay the point. The down referee overruled that call. Neither call affected the outcome of the game.
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