Warrior Girls Volleyball In State Playoffs Friday, November 11th

Dunmore, WV – The Pocahontas County Warriors volleyball team defeated Montcalm on November 5 to advance to the state tournament in Charleston for the first time since 2006.

In her first year as head coach, Kay Wylie guided her team to a phenomenal 22-4 record, including three playoff victories. The Warriors play Calhoun County in the state championship quarterfinals this Friday morning in Charleston.

Wylie credited her players, previous coach Melvin Lindsey and assistant coach Ruth Bland for the team’s success.

“Well, first of all, I think that it’s a reflection of Mr. Lindsey, who started this team back when our senior girls were freshmen,” she said. “The talent that has just came through – they are coachable. They are easy to work with and the fact that he kind of built the program.

“Along with – I have to give Ruth Bland a lot of credit because she’s the one that just worked a lot with me, teaching me a lot about the game. You know, the strategies and how things work. Dealing with problems that come up, maybe, on the bench or on the floor at practice – those kind of things. She was kind of my right hand lady.”

The coach says her team is loaded with talent and that her players show good teamwork.

“I’ve got seven that play all the time,” she said. “Of course, our two senior leaders, Chloe Bland and Miranda McNabb. I just credit them to their experience and the fact that they had great leadership with the team.

“Then, I’ve got four of my juniors there. Tiffani Alexander, Cassidy Rao, Heather Snead and Rebecca Jerome. They’re just incredible players. Most of the time, they’re always in the right place working together as a team.

“Then, I’ve got Kayla Brown, she’s one of my other starters. You know, they just work really well together.”

Wylie says Calhoun will be a tough opponent, but she’s confident in a victory.

“They played a pretty tough record,” she said. “They haven’t played any teams that we have competed against, so, it’s really hard to determine that. You know, you can only base it on the fact that they’ve played up to some double A schools and stuff like that, which is – you know – it’s important to do that because your competition is a lot tougher.

“They have an awesome record. They played a lot of games, but I feel that my girls are going in with a mindset of, ‘it’s one game at a time and we’re going to do what we have to do to put the first one away.'”

Pocahontas first-round match begins Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the Charleston Civic Center.