KEYSER, W.Va. — In a battle of Mineral County rivals, each set came down to the wire.
While Frankfort kept all three sets competitive, Keyser made enough plays down the stretch to secure the sweep, winning 25-21, 27-25 and 25-22.
“I feel great, I feel awesome,” Keyser head coach Brian Kesner said. “The credit for the players, they worked so hard the last couple days. We worked on our defense, we specifically was looking at a couple players in how we set up our defense. We got a student body, we got them involved and they were huge for us.”
The second set was the most entertaining, featuring six lead changes and seven ties.
The final five plays featured a pair of ties along with each team taking a one-point lead.
“I knew coming in here what we were up against,” Frankfort head coach Brooke Alkire-Higson said. “We’ve got a couple kids injured, we’ve had a couple changes, pulled up a couple kids from JV. Sometimes when you mix and match and don’t give them a lot of time to practice it, I knew we’d have to really lock in.”
The Falcons (4-8) opened on a 9-4 run led by Calvary transfer Paula Ganoe’s five kills and an ace.
The Golden Tornado (10-6) answered with a 7-3 run led by three assists from Bella Haines to take a 12-11 lead.
Haines posted eight assists with five aces and a kill.
The second half of the set featured six ties and six lead changes.
Neither team led by more than four points, setting up a dramatic final stretch.
“That’s the kind of thing we do, we’ll be down and we can comeback,” Kesner said. “Especially in that second set, these girls, they just keep fighting. They keep working hard, they play hard and they will not give up.”
With Frankfort leading 24-23, Haines set up former Falcon Jillian Ault for a kill at the net to even the score.
Ault recorded six kills, two blocks and an assist.
The Falcons took the lead on the next play when Sophie Young assisted Ganoe on a kill.
Young recorded 19 assists with two aces while Ganoe finished with 16 kills and an ace.
“Paula’s just a well-rounded player, she sees the court well, she’s a leader and she can put the ball down when she swings,” Alkire-Higson said.
A Frankfort error tied the score at 25 before back-to-back aces by Sophie Lambka won the set for the Golden Tornado.
The momentum carried over into the third set, as Keyser opened on a 9-2 run.
“When we won that second set, we got the momentum,” Kesner said. “If we can jump out in that third set, we’ll be fine.”
Haines had a pair of aces while Aubrey Fisher added another during the run.
The Falcons answered with a 8-4 run, scoring four points off Tornado errors to cut the margin to 13-10.
“Sometimes just our serve receive, anytime you have a couple bad passes back to back, it’s hard to get rolling,” Alkire-Higson said of the slow starts. “But I thought our girls did overcome that to be able to fight back and stay with them.”
Keyser stretched the lead up to 20-13 before Frankfort rallied late to get within 23-21.
Young assisted on four plays with three leading to kills from Ganoe.
Kiya Kesner set up a kill at the net by Ault to set up match point.
An error kept the Falcons alive, but Kesner assisted Lambka on a kill at the net to win the match.
“Our upfront girls,” coach Kesner said of the difference down the stretch. “When you can get a good pass to those setters and they can get it to those good hitters, they take advantage of it. They know where to go, they find an opening.”
The Tornado led the first set from the start, opening on a 10-4 run.
Frankfort rallied and cut the deficit to 13-12 before Keyser answered with a 7-1 run to stretch its lead to 20-13.
A pair of kills from Young to Ganoe cut the Falcons deficit to 23-20 late, but a kill at the net by Lambka secured the set.
Lambka finished with seven kills and four aces.
Both teams play on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
Frankfort hosts East Hardy (8-4) while Keyser heads to Petersburg (9-5).
“They’re an all-around team, they don’t have many weaknesses,” coach Kesner said of the Vikings. “They’re hard to get the ball down on, because they have a good defense.”
Thursday will be the second of five games in seven days for the Golden Tornado.
The next four are all on the road, also featuring Ritchie County, No. 5 Allegany (4-2) and East Hardy.