The Shadow
KINCAID ATTACK — Alleghany’s Hannah Kincaid unloads on a kill during Monday’s Conference 31 first round match with William Byrd. The Terriers ended the Mountaineers’ season in five sets. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
KINCAID ATTACK — Alleghany’s Hannah Kincaid unloads on a kill during Monday’s Conference 31 first round match with William Byrd. The Terriers ended the Mountaineers’ season in five sets. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
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It was what a No. 4 seed vs. a No. 5 seed should be.
A back-and-forth battle that went the five-set distance.
Unfortunately for the Alleghany girls, it got away in the decisive fifth.
Brieona Anderson had four kills and Bailey Price ripped off six straight points in the final set, leading William Byrd past Alleghany 25-20, 24-26, 25-14, 11-25, 15-7 in the Conference 31 volleyball tournament first round at Mountaineer Gym Monday night.
The hosts led 5-3 early in the fifth before being outscored 12-2 down the stretch.
“It was just a couple of plays here or there,” said AHS coach Tara Uzzell. “We’ve always went back and forth with them every single time we played. We’re pretty much even.”
And even was how the first four sets played out.
After dropping the opening set, it took a dramatic ending in the second to square the match.
Morganne Durham saved a match point with a kill to tie the set at 24-all and Hannah Kincaid dug up an Anderson bullet from the back line to keep the next point alive.
Durham squared the match with another big swing a point later.
Alleghany again evened the match in the fourth, jumping out to a 16-5 lead.
Cristen Walton and Rachel Groves both had long serving runs to open the set, while Erin Osborne, Walton, Durham and La’Tisha Chambers all had kills.
“We were moving well, we were moving our feet, we were digging up balls, we were making big plays,” said Uzzell. “If we would have moved our feet continuously all the sets like we did in the fourth we wouldn’t have went five.”
Osborne led the way for the Mountaineers with 14 kills, Chambers had 12, while Kincaid and Durham both had five.
Durham and Kincaid had 14 and 11 digs respectively and Sarah Loving had 14 assists.
The loss ended a solid 11-10 year for the Mountaineers.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls, a group of harder working girls,” said Uzzell. “We went through two-a-days, we went through six-hour practices back in the summer. They are all-around good girls. They come to school, they make good grades. You just couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to coach.”
Chambers, a junior, led the Mountaineers with 210 kills on the year, while Osborne (129), Kincaid (112) and Durham (106) all topped 100 kills.
Four different players — Groves (144), Durham (133), Kincaid (125) and Walton (123) — went over 100 digs, while Loving dished out 409 assists.
