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Tygarts Valley spikers rally past Pendleton County

MILL CREEK – The Tygarts Valley High volleyball team hosted Potomac Valley Conference foe Pendleton County Thursday night, earning a comeback win in the five-set match (18-25, 25-19, 13-25, 25-20, 15-12).

The Wildcats started out the first set with a 5-2 advantage but the Bulldogs’ Kelsey Arbogast served an ace to cut the lead to 5-4 in favor of Pendleton.

With the score tied at 10-all, a ball got trapped in the ceiling netting. Another ball was trapped in the netting at 12-all and the set had to be suspended until the balls were retrieved.

The teams traded points for 13-all and then Brittany Huffman, serving for the Wildcats, extended the lead to 21-13. This included a pretty tap-over by Kaylee Edwards at 18-13.

Tygarts Valley’s Paige Pritt scored three straight points to get the hosts within five at 23-18, but Pendleton closed out the final two points for the 25-18 set win.

The Wildcats went ahead 3-0 to start the second set as well, but Pritt served the hosts into a 7-5 advantage. Emily Pingley took the ball at 11-9 and extended the lead to 16-9, including two aces.

Pendleton County eventually cut the lead to three points at 19-16 but would come no closer as the Bulldogs stretched the lead again and won set two, 25-19.

The third set began with the Wildcats again taking the early lead with Nikita Kimble serving to 5-0. Huffman took a 6-1 lead to 9-1 and Pendleton never looked back. The Bulldogs’ Rachel New ended the streak with a kill but the closest the home team could get was 9-4.

Huffman would serve out the final three points of the set for a dominating 25-13, score and the Wildcats had a two sets to one advantage.

Pendleton County jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set as well, taking a 4-1 start.

Another kill by New stopped the momentum and Tygarts Valley closed the gap to 8-all.

Neither team could distance themselves from the other and the score would eventually reach 20-all. At that point, it was Pritt’s turn to serve for the Bulldogs and she closed out the final five points to make it 25-20.

With the score at two sets apiece, the 15-point fifth set began with Tygarts Valley establishing early control with a 4-1 lead.

The Wildcats battled back and took a 10-8 lead but TV’s Caitlyn Murphy stepped up and secured five crucial straight points for a 13-10 Tygarts Valley advantage. A couple of side-outs later, Pingley served for 15-12 and the set and the match belonged to the Bulldogs.

For the match, New led Tygarts Valley with 19 kills followed by Pingley with 18, Charity Lower led in assists with 10 and Arbogast tallied 9.

Pritt served 12 points with Pingley close behind with 11.

Bulldogs coach Kayla White was pleased with the win and the play of her seniors.

“I have six seniors on this team and this win belongs to them,” she said. “They worked hard for it.”

Tygarts Valley will entertain South Harrison at 6 p.m. Tuesday, while Pendleton County will host Highland County (Va.) at 6 p.m. on Monday.

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