INSTITUTE – The wait is over Charmco!
A long-awaited state title belongs to the Greenbrier West Cavaliers. The Lady Cavaliers defeated the top-seeded East Hardy Cougars three sets to one to claim the first girls’ team title in any sport, and they did so with flair. Paige Dean hammered home the final point with a thunderous spike into Lester Raines Court at the Walker Convocation Center for a thrilling 27-25, championship-clinching victory on Tuesday.
In the opening set of the title match, both East Hardy and Greenbrier West kept each other within reach although the start was a little more tenuous for the Lady Cavaliers. East Hardy built a five-point advantage before the Lady Cavaliers seemed to kick it up a notch. West battled back to take a two-point edge, but momentum stalled as the Cougars reeled off six straight and never looked back in a 25-17 opening set win. It would be Greenbrier West’s only dropped set of the tournament.
The second set would be a heavyweight fight. Both schools battled evenly throughout the match, swapping the lead an incredible seven times. East Hardy seemed destined to put the Lady Cavaliers away at virtually the same point of the set that they ran away from Greenbrier West in the first set. Tie at fifteen apiece, the Cougars surged out to a 22-17 lead. Senior All-Stater Preslee Treadway would have no more of it. Despite 14 kills from Cougar counterpart Morganne Miller, Treadway answered with nine blasts of her own. The Cavaliers rallied behind Treadway and her senior teammate Dean to take a 25-23 win and even the match at a game apiece.
With a new sense of purpose, Greenbrier West played a little more like they were accustomed to in the third set. While Treadway and Miller continued to battle with heart-pounding kills, it was sophomore Maddie Sweet that stole the show. Sweet tallied 28 assists, constantly setting for Treadway, Dean, freshman Preslie Shrewbury, and Ava Price to post the Cavaliers up 23-18. East Hardy wasn’t finished, however, and surged back to tie Greenbrier West behind Miller and Madilyn Funk. Sweet would get the Cavaliers back in the scoring column to go up 24-23 before Shrewbury finished off East Hardy with an ace to clinch the set.
The fourth set would prove to be the most epic of the match. Miller and Madison Kerr did all they could to keep the Cougars in contention. Miller logged a match-high 24 kills in the set with Kerr adding 11 of her own. Dean and Treadway volleyed well, tallying 10 and 18 kills, respectively. The senior duo also pulled out 43 digs to keep the ball in play. For the Cavaliers, Sweet put up a tournament-high 37 assists in the set. Thrilling the fans in attendance, East Hardy and Greenbrier West battled through 19 ties and nine lead changes. Another highly regarded freshman, Kaylee Martin, put West in position to clinch the set and the match with a kill that vaulted West into a 24-23 lead. Undaunted, Kerr belted two kills in return to flip the scales back in East Hardy’s favor, 25-24.
With a raucous Greenbrier West crowd urging them on, the Lady Cavaliers evened the score when East Hardy served up a game-tying point. After yet another Cougar error, the game point was all that kept West from its first state title. Treadway’s dig to the front let Sweet settle under the ball for her last
assist. Dean swooped in and buried a kill into the court, setting off a wild, joyous celebration in both Institute and Charmco.
The WVSSAC staff allowed for the celebration to take place for a few minutes before restoring order and naming their all-tournament team. Treadway and Dean were the Cavalier members of that squad. East Hardy’s Miller and Addison Armentrout joined the pair of Cavaliers along with Wirt County’s Breigyn Dawson and Elizabeth Alt as well as Pendleton County’s Baylee Beachler.
After awarding the Cougars their runners-up hardware, the Cavaliers claimed their team trophy and individual plaques. It was a moment savored by Greenbrier West head coach Joe Robertson.
“We finally did it!” Roberston exclaimed. “It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”
This was the Lady Cavalier’s eighth consecutive appearance in the Class A state tournament, a run that began with a 3-0 loss to East Hardy in the 2017 tourney. This time, West was not denied.
Greenbrier West opened the tournament on Monday afternoon, December 2 with a 3-0 win over regional foe River View (25-18, 25-7, 25-21). It was only the third time in school history that the Cavaliers had won a match at the state tournament, joining the 1994-95 and 1997-98 teams.
In the evening session, Greenbrier West had to battle to put away a scrappy Wirt County squad. The Lady Cavaliers won 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22) to advance to the Class A Championship Match. It was the first time a Greenbrier West girls’ team had advanced to a state championship appearance since the 1987 girls basketball team.
The tournament, originally scheduled for November 12-14 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, was delayed until December 2-3 after legal battles between multiple circuit courts were settled by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Once finalized, the tournament was jettisoned to the campus of West Virginia State University. As expected, the Yellowjackets hosted a top-notch tournament.
Greenbrier West’s volleyball program began in 1978 under the late John Lewis. After two seasons, the program was shelved until 1986 when Peggy Franklin revived it. Andrew Tokarz guided the program from 1987-89 before Russ Gilkeson took the reins in 1990. Gilkeson steadily guided and grew the program into a championship contender, winning his first regional title in 1996. Gilkeson led the Lady Cavaliers into state tournament play in 1993, 94, 96, 97, 2002, 04, 05, and 2011. Cindy Nutter led the program from 2014 until 2022, guiding West into the state tournament from 2017-2022. This was Joe Robertson’s second year as the Cavalier’s head coach, earning the school’s first state championship in any girl’s sport.
