By Dan Stillwell
It took Woodrow Wilson four matches to figure out Greenbrier East.
The host Flying Eagles’ front line of Denae Williams, Jasmine Woods, Emily Wright and Annie Patterson finally took advantage of its size advantage in an 18-25, 25-23, 25-15 25-10 Region 3, Section 1 tournament victory Thursday night over the Spartans.
“They found themselves. They didn’t want to lose,” coach Shirley Brown said after Woodrow avenged three regular-season losses.
Top-seeded East (48-8-6) had easily downed Princeton in the quarterfinals and Nicholas County in the semifinals, then dominated the first game against the Flying Eagles.
The Spartans were clicking: Senior setter Amanda Alleyne worked the ball perfectly to sister Brittany Alleyne or to 6-foot middle Taylor Curry, and they responded with big hit after big hit.
East’s defense, keyed by hustling libero Lanti Cole, stymied Woodrow’s attack. The Spartans took the final six points and looked in full control of the match.
But Woodrow slowly turned it around in the second game, getting strong serving from Williams and Katie Coker and big hits from the front line.
The Flying Eagles held off a late rally to win by two points.
Suddenly, East had no answers for Woodrow’s attack. The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 and 6-0 leads in the final two games and the momentum turned into an avalanche.
Williams and Patterson were especially impressive. Williams, a sophomore, hit with authority while the freshman Patterson rejected nearly everything the Spartans sent her way.
“Denae is not a third as good as she’s going to be, and Anne is not one-fifth as good as she’s going to be,” Brown said. “By the time they’re seniors, they will be (state) players of the year.”
The defense, featuring Brantlea Wood at libero and Emily Ernest in the back row, seldom let anything hit the floor.
Meanwhile, nothing went right for the Spartans. Serves fluttered into the net, sets went awry and hits soared out of bounds.
“We just didn’t come to play,” coach Matt Sauvage said. “Once we lost the momentum, we didn’t pick it back up.
“Woodrow’s a good team. They deserved to win tonight.”
All is not lost for East, however. Both the Spartans and Flying Eagles will advance to today’s Region 3 championships at Nicholas County High School.
Woodrow will play Section 2 runner-up South Charleston while East takes on Section 1 champion George Washington. Both semifinal matches are at 2 p.m.
The top two finishers will compete in next week’s state tournament in Charleston.
— E-mail:dstillwell@register-herald.com
