MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With one of the best regular seasons in program history under its belt, the Morgantown High volleyball team will look to capitalize at the Capital in this year’s installment of the state tournament.
Ranked fourth, the Mohigans (21-5) are on a roll, dominating sectionals and regionals to solidify themselves in the top half of the bracket. Their first opponent is a familiar one, No. 5 Bridgeport – the team they just beat for the Region I title. It hasn’t been a clean sweep throughout the year, though. The Indians (22-8) have two wins on MHS, and the regional finals match came down to the wire with MHS pulling ahead in the final two sets.
To senior hitter Alayna Corwin, the team’s leader, MHS will need to make quick work of BHS to advance.
“Our goal is to beat them in three, get on with our games and the tournament, but we have to bring intensity down there,” Corwin said. “We’re playing in that big arena, it’s different. It’s a different environment, especially when looking at volleyball because it’s huge. Your voices don’t really carry like they do in a typical gymnasium. We need to bring energy and play to our highest potential. We have to come out strong. I think sometimes we tend to not come out strong, but it’s imperative at the state tournament.
“We need to play our game.”
Corwin also looks at the season as a whole as a testament to the potential the team has this year at states, albeit she’s taking it one game at a time.
“This season, I’m so proud of us,” she said. “COVID put a little dent in our season but we combated that really well. We came back, practiced, worked our butts off and now we’re 21-5. That’s a testament to our work ethic.”
Coach Erica Manor agreed.
“It has been a crazy year, this group is really special,” she said. “I think these seniors have paved the way to change the culture that was previous of this program into something where they care about each other, working on trusting each other more on the court and honing that togetherness when they play. Proud of the work and effort the girls have put in – with COVID craziness it’s not easy to manage.”
The senior’s leadership will be needed now more than ever, especially for a core group of freshmen who helped get the Mohigans on the right track in the regional title game. Corwin noted she loves those freshmen and she believes in their skills going into their first state tournament. And while Corwin’s humbleness had her talk more about the freshmen, Manor made up for it by talking about Corwin and the other leaders.
“From my perspective watching the game from the sidelines, I think the younger kids on the team have taken away the mental toughness aspect from our seniors,” Manor said. “Yeah, we were down, but we came back. To have that tenacity and that strong mental mindset that it didn’t matter we were down seven, eight points in the third set, we came back within two. To me, that speaks volumes about the future of our program.
“As we continue to gear up for Bridgeport she [Alayna] is our leader and go-to kid, so we respect her and her thoughts and opinions. We look forward to Saturday.”
Should MHS defeat BHS on Saturday in the first round, they’ll have a rematch with Musselman – a game with many implications. First and foremost, the top-ranked Applemen defeated Morgantown last year in the state tournament, so the Mohigans are looking to make up for that.
“That lights our fire, we want to see a high level of competition,” Corwin said. “We want to play Musselman and play big girls. That’s why we bring intensity every day because we want to play those teams.”
For Manor, she also wants to get revenge for last year, but it goes deeper or the second-year head coach: It’s her alma mater led by her former coach and boss. She also views Musselman as the biggest hurdle in the path to win the title.
“We have to get past the first to get to the second, but I’m excited to have a rematch at states,” Manor said. “We’re going to continue to be aggressive with our serves and hone in on their serving to us so as long as we can control the serve-receiving points then we can have a great opportunity to be successful.
“Musselman is No. 1 in the state for a reason and to be able to go up against that and get past it, I’d be super excited.”
Still, the Indians are standing in the way of that rematch happening, and for MHS it’s one game at a time.
“One point at a time, one set at a time,” Corwin said. “It’s really important that we fight for every point. We need to beat Bridgeport, but we don’t know what they can bring. They could be a completely different team, so we have to stay on our toes and stay ready for whatever they might throw at us.”
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