The Bridgeport High School volleyball team punched its ticket to the state tournament with a Class AAA Region I semifinal victory against Wheeling Park on Saturday at Morgantown High School.

 

The Indians will head to Charleston as the regional runner-up as they fell in the championship round to the host Mohigans, who had also secured a state tournament berth with a semifinal victory against University.

 

In additional to the regional title, the clash between BHS and Morgantown was also used for state tournament seeding purposes.

 

Seeding for the state tournament is expected to be finalized on Sunday by the WVSSAC, which has already announced a change in format for Charleston. Rather than every team in all three classes playing over two days (Friday and Saturday), Class A will run its full schedule from quarterfinals to championship match on Thursday, the same for AA on Friday and the event at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center will wrap up with AAA on Saturday.

 

Morgantown took care of University in straight sets 25-12, 25-21 and 25-18 before the Indians and Patriots took the court. Park defeated BHS in a regular-season meeting but the Tribe took care of business in the postseason with a straight-set sweep with scores of 25-21, 25-23 and 25-20.

 

In Game 1, the Indians jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led 10-4 before the Patriots battled back, eventually tying it at 12. BHS got back on top and although it was close the rest of the way right up until Violet Sickles secured the win with a kill to close it out at 25-21.

 

BHS was down four in Game 2 at 22-18 before rebounding following a timeout that halted the Patriots’ momentum. Sickles and Shea Hefner had kills on back-to-back points to put it way at 25-23.

 

The Indians built a 13-5 lead in Game 3 only to see Park claw its way back into and tie it at 18. The Indians’ took control late and Hefner’s 16^th kill of the match secured the win and state title berth at 25-20.

 

Hefner also finished with 14 digs and an assist. Alexa Martin and Sickles also reached double digits in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Martin added four blocks, two aces and an assist, while Sickles had five aces and three digs.

 

Jayce Lucas posted 34 assists and served up one ace. Julia Griffith had 10 digs, two aces and one assist.

Grace Backus chipped in with two kills and block. Addie Phillips also had a block and one dig. Cambria Freeman had three digs and two aces.

 

The Indians took Game 1 from the Mohigans, 25-18. Morgantown took Game 2, 25-20. BHS went up 2-1 in the match with a 25-23 win in Game 3. Backus was huge in Game 3 with three huge plays at that net.

 

“Grace was locked in today and we need that from her,” BHS coach Ali Burton said.

 

MHS bounced back 25-18 win in Game 4 to force the decisive Game 5 which the Mohigans won 15-7.

“We stopped communicating,” Burton said.  “We had a couple of players that were letting mistakes hang around and that’s something we have been talking about. Having short-term memory, every point, move on, new ball. We did that really well against Wheeling Park.

 

“I think we definitely wore out mentally. Even though we’ve played a AAA schedule, the AAA postseason is new. I’m kind of glad it went five games because the way it is set up next week, you are going to have to go through some five-game matches if you want to move on.”

 

Hefner finished the match with 19 kills, 24 digs and three aces. Sickles had 16 kills, three digs and two blocks. Martin added eight kills, two blocks and an ace.

 

In addition to her team-best 43 assists, Lucas had three aces and one dig.

 

Griffith had a huge outing on defense with 18 digs and added one assist. Backus finished with four kills, one block and one dig. Freemen had four digs.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Shea Hefner (15), Alexa Martin (22), Julia Griffith (3) and Jayce Lucas (6) in celebration mode. Second photo is of Violet Sickles sending down a kill attempt. Bottom photo is of Addie Phillips and Grace Backus (18) making a play at the net. All photos by Kyle Jenkins for www.benqueenphotography.com