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PM Netters Fall To Grayson Pioneer Champion Blues End Season With 15-12 Mark
The Parry McCluer High School volleyball team saw its season come to a close with a 3-0 home defeat to Grayson County in the quarterfinals of the Region 1C tournament on Monday of last week.
Less than a week after the Fighting Blues (15-12) claimed their first Pioneer District tournament championship in nearly two decades, the Blue Devils ended PM’s postseason run with a 25-22, 25-15, 25-18 victory in Buena Vista.
Madey Phipps totaled 13 kills and six service aces as Grayson advanced to the regional semifinals. Karlie Hawks tallied 33 assists for the Blue Devils, the No. 3 regional seed from the Mountain Empire District, while Savannah White notched 10 kills, four blocks and four aces, and Kinsey Parks also finished with 10 kills.
Kadence Zollman registered nine kills and two blocks for the Blues, who entered the match as the No. 2 seed from the Pioneer District. Keely Mahaffey posted 16 digs, four kills, four blocks and four aces for PM, and Natalie Mohler contributed 11 assists, three aces and two blocks.
In the Region 1C semifinals on Thursday, Grayson (18-7) fell 3-1 to five-time defending Class 1 state champion and district rival Auburn. But the Blue Devils had the upper hand in their quarterfinal matchup with the Blues, surviving a tight opening set and then taking command in the second and third frames.
“They’re a solid program,” PM head coach Jessie Moala said of Grayson. “They do a good job, the Mountain Empire District, of raising good volleyball players. … Strong hitters, and they don’t let anything drop.”
The Blues were able to hang tight throughout a seesaw first set. PM assumed an early 7-6 advantage behind the strength of two Mahaffey kills and two Peira Conner aces. While the Blue Devils turned things around with an extended 10-3 stretch that featured four kills from Parks – the junior posted eight of her 10 kills in the opener – they struggled to shake the Blues.
Consecutive aces from Mohler and a block from Conner and Mahaffey knotted up the score at 1717. But Grayson responded with a 6-2 run that made it 23-19, and – despite a pair of late kills from Zollman – the visitors held on for the 25-22 victory.
“I think we were just reading things really well in the first set,” Moala said. “In the consecutive sets, we just got in our head and started to play scared.”
And the Blue Devils capitalized on any tentativeness coming from the other side of the net, jumping out to huge early leads in both the second and third sets. Grayson assumed an 11-3 advantage in the second stanza, and – after PM had used a pair of Zollman swings and two Mahaffey aces to claw back to within two at 13-11 – they would put the frame out of reach with a 9-2 spurt that extended the margin to 22-13.
In similar fashion, the Blue Devils grabbed an 11-2 lead to start the third set. The Blues righted the ship and again put together a rally, trimming the deficit to 14-11 on another block from Mahaffey and Conner.
After Grayson rebuilt its cushion, going ahead 22-14 on a kill from Adisyn Funk, PM used a Zollman kill, an Allie Cullen ace and a swing from Emory Slagle to cut the gap to 22-18. But backto- back kills from Phipps – who notched a half-dozen in the final set – helped Grayson put the match away.
Conner finished with three blocks and two aces. Logan Vest tallied 10 digs and two aces for PM, and Cullen also chipped in 10 digs. Chasity Wilson served up three aces for the Blue Devils.
The Blues had one big advantage on the stat sheet: they had a much cleaner night on the service line, firing up 13 aces with just three errors while Grayson had 14 aces with a dozen miscues. PM’s ace total likely would have been much higher if not for an effective serve-receive game from its opponent.
“The girls have been working really hard in practice on serving and being more consistent,” Moala said. “I thought they really improved in that area.”
Although PM couldn’t extend its postseason success into the regional tournament, the Blues can hang their hats on an impressive run through the Pioneer District bracket. The week before regional play, third-seeded PM won three district tournament contests in as many nights, beating No. 2 seed Bath County and top seed Narrows on the road on consecutive evenings to claim the program’s first Pioneer title since 2005. The Blues went 6-4 in the district.
While the Blues will miss their senior class – Conner, Mohler, Vest and Remi Hickman – the past couple of weeks have proven what the PM program is capable of.
“This group of girls has definitely grown the most out of the past three seasons that I’ve been at the helm,” Moala said. “To our seniors, they’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill.
“We did win the district championship for the first time in 19 years, which was pretty special for them to leave their mark,” the PM coach added. “I think there’s only room to grow from here.”
PM SOPHOMORE setter Keely Mahaffey (11) leaps to spike the ball over the net as Grayson County players prepare for the return. Mahaffey recorded 16 digs, four kills, four blocks and four aces. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
