Congratulations to the Greenbrier East Volleyball Team on being the 2013 AAA State Runner-Up. It has been a season to remember for the Lady Spartan volleyball team. To quote Coach Matt Sauvage, “It’s all about the journey, but the destination wasn’t bad either.” The players and coaches have accomplished many great things on and off the court this season.
The regular season accomplishments included: Nicholas County Tournament Champions, wins over Parkersburg, George Washington, Woodrow Wilson and a 41-11-5 record going into Sectionals. The team won their 3rd straight sectional championship with 3-0 wins over Woodrow Wilson and Shady Spring. The team had continued success going into regionals where they won the Regional championship. They won Regionals with a 3-0 win over George Washington and a 3-1 win over Capital High School. This was the first time since 2000 that the team has won both sectionals and regionals in the same season. This was the second consecutive year advancing to the state tournament.
The Lady Spartans entered the state tournament as a one seed where they would meet up with number two seed Martinsburg in the quarterfinals. The team started off slow but then put away Martinsburg 3-1 to get into the semifinals, equaling the furthest an east volleyball team had ever made it in the state tournament. The last semifinal team was in 2009 where the team lost to Spring Valley. This year started the same with a matchup against Spring Valley, ranked #2 in the state. This would be a game for the ages and a memorable win in East Volleyball history. The Spartans jumped out quick winning the first set before losing the second set. The ladies came back strong winning two sets in a row to defeat the Timberwolves 3-1. This is the first time in school history the team has beaten Spring Valley and the first time in school history the team has ever advanced to the state championship game. This set up a match-up in the finals with the number one ranked team in the state, the Musselman Applemen. The Spartans came out fighting in the championship but eventually fell to Musselman 0-3. Chosen to the All-State Tournament team were Senior Kaitie Shaver, Junior Abby Morgan and Junior Abby Brown.
The Greenbrier East Volleyball Team is known for their good character, good sportsmanship, academic excellence, leadership, and being great role models. These girls from Greenbrier County would be no different at the state tournament. The Spartan ladies brought home the Sportsmanship Award. Coach Sauvage could not be more proud of the ladies and believes the Sportsmanship Award is just as important, if not more so than a state runner-up trophy. Greenbrier County has much to be proud of with these ladies and Coach Sauvage says, “I would be hard pressed to find a better group of girls and assistant coaches than that of the Greenbrier East Volleyball Team.”
• Seniors: Captain Ellen Henthorn, Captain Kaitie Shaver, Olivia Talbott and Chaunte McDowell.
• Juniors: Abby Brown and Abby Morgan.
• Sophomores: Bella Coles, Taylor Hill, Kaitlyn Mize, Lauren Lusher, Madi Persinger and Lindsey Deskins.
• Freshmen: Lindsey Level.
• Coaches: Matt Sauvage, Ali Curry and Erin Thorpe.