By: Kyle Bennett kbennett@times-news.com Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @KyleBennettCTN
KEYSER, W.Va. — WVU Potomac State led from start to finish, with dominant play at the net leading to a 3-0 sweep over Penn Highlands on Wednesday evening at Lough Gymnasium to win the NJCAA Division II Region XX championship.
Alayzia Ward tallied a double-double with a team-high 28 digs to go along with 10 kills en route to being awarded Region XX MVP.
Lauren Whiteman, Macie Miller and Kylie McGuire were named to the All-Tournament team. Whiteman provided rock-solid defense for the Cats with 20 digs while not letting much hit the floor around her, while Miller and McGuire dominated at the net with 13 and 12 kills, respectively.
Puffinburger and Taylor VanMeter had four aces apiece, while Whiteman and Ward contributed three aces each toward the team's 15.
"Alayzia Ward did a great job serving," said Potomac State head coach Martha Ganoe. "She went back there and rattled off a ton of serves. … While she was doing that, offensively, in the front row, I thought Kylie McGuire did a great job hitting. And defensively, Lauren Whiteman was solid — she just doesn't let much fall.
"Overall I thought the girls played well as a team. It's hard to get motivated when you're playing a team we've beaten three times already, and beaten them considerably, so it's tough to get motivated to play. So we tried to set our own parameters to challenge ourselves and set our own individual goals as a team as far as letting them score. We were close in the first game, we hit our target in the second game, but the third game I thought they were a lot more competitive against us."
The Catamounts opened up a 5-2 lead before a 3-0 run made it 8-2 in the first set, with McGuire getting a pair of tips to fall for points following a Penn Highlands timeout.
The teams traded punches before back-to-back service points from VanMeter extended the Cats' lead to 12-4.
The Black Bears responded with a 3-0 run of their own and eventually got back to within six, 15-9, but it was all-Potomac State from there as Ward got a spike to jumpstart a 10-0 run to close out the opening set for a 25-9 win.
Potomac State started the second set right where they left off in the first set. After opening up a 2-1 lead, the Catamounts went on a 9-0 run started by a Penn Highlands error, kills from Miller and McGuire, a McGuire spike in between three aces from Ward, and two more kills from McGuire to put the score at 11-1.
The Black Bears got a point to end the drought, but it hardly mattered as a kill from Miller and an ace from Puffinburger sent Penn Highlands into a timeout and kick-started an 8-0 run to open up a 19-2 lead.
PSC later closed out the set on a 3-1 run with kills from Brooke Slaubaugh and Miller before an ace from Ward gave the Catamounts the set, 25-8, and a 2-0 lead.
Potomac State again started strong in the third set, with back-to-back kills from Ward to open up a 7-2 lead. Penn Highlands later got to within two, 12-10, but a kill from Ward and ace from VanMeter began a 7-0 run for a 19-10 lead. PSC went on to win the set 25-16.
In a year where things have been far from normal, the Catamounts are operating like a well-oiled machine, aided by their 12-player roster being comprised of 10 local student-athletes.
"We have seven girls from Frankfort," said Ganoe, "and Nicola (Ganoe) has played with that bunch too before high school when she went to Calvary. So there is a lot of familiarity between them. And not only that, but a lot of these girls have played travel ball together. Alayzia and Kennedy (Koelker) were teammates at Allegany, so we have that as well, in addition to Hannah (Gordon) who played at Hampshire.
"They've molded very well together and I think they're playing really well together. I would've liked to have seen how this team would have done against our typical region. I think we would have had a shot to win it no matter who was playing. I think this is one of the best teams I've had — I think they're comparable to the team that went to nationals two times before."
The Catamounts hit the road for the district championship on Friday as PSC seeks to return to the national tournament.