WCMS completes wild comeback at home
The serving of Maebry Yates helped the WCMS Lady Pioneers rally to top Stone Memorial Tuesday at home.
For a moment, Warren County looked like it had let another one slip away Tuesday night. Just when it seemed Stone Memorial had everything rolling, the Lady Pioneers found a way to flip the momentum, feed off a roaring home crowd and turn a potential straight-set loss into one of their best wins of the young season.
WCMS rallied to beat Stone Memorial 19-25, 25-23, 15-10, bouncing back from Monday’s loss at Upperman and improving to 4-2 through a busy two weeks of the regular season.
The victory was the perfect remedy for Warren County after falling in straight sets at Upperman Monday night. Even after dropping Tuesday’s opening set and staring at a four-point deficit late in the second, the Lady Pioneers refused to let one loss turn into two.
“Very big,” said coach Bethany Mesaros of the bounce-back victory. “The girls always find a way to bring it back and pull all the way through, and I’m so proud of them.”
The comeback was needed after a frustrating opening set. Warren County led 17-12 before Stone Memorial ripped off 11 straight points, completely swinging the momentum on its way to a 25-19 victory.
For much of the second set, it looked like that momentum was going to carry the visitors right through another straight-set loss for the Lady Pioneers.
Then Maebry Yates stepped to the service line.
Warren County was down 22-18 when Yates started picking apart the Stone Memorial defense, leaving the visitors scrambling just to get the ball back across the net.
“I’m always very confident when Maebry goes back to serve,” said Mesaros about Yates’ clutch serving. “She definitely is a strong server and not a lot of people can pass her serves. I love how she moves the ball around, too, when she serves. It’s never in the same spot, so they can’t figure out exactly where she’s going.”
Yates finished with two aces, two digs and a kill, but her biggest impact came during the pressure-packed moments of the final two sets. When Stone Memorial did manage to get the ball back across during the second-set rally, Ellie Dixon was waiting.
Dixon hammered one kill through the defense, then followed with a perfectly placed push over the block as Warren County pulled within one, 22-21. With the lead dwindling, Stone Memorial called timeout, but it did little to stop the surge.
A ball into the net tied the set, then Yates painted the sideline with an ace to give WCMS a 23-22 advantage.
Stone Memorial answered when miscommunication on the Warren County back line tied it again, but a missed serve gave the Lady Pioneers set point and another chance to extend the match.
Dixon made sure they did.
A perfect set allowed Dixon to attack and she powered it through the Stone Memorial defense for the winner, giving Warren County a 25-23 victory and setting off a celebration from the Lady Pioneers and their home crowd.
The wave of momentum, according to coach Mesaros, came from the Lady Pioneers clearing their heads and finding their g
Mesaros felt the turnaround was as much mental as anything else.
“A lot of it was just believing in themselves and knowing that they could do it,” said Mesaros. “The girls really found it within themselves to dig and cheer.”
The Lady Pioneers carried all of that energy into the deciding third set, where they never trailed.
Dixon delivered a thunderous spike to break a 4-4 deadlock. Dixon was in the middle of everything Tuesday, finishing with seven kills, seven digs and an ace, providing the Lady Pioneers with a force at the net while also contributing defensively on the back row.
Fallon Youngblood followed with a big ace as Warren County started creating separation. She was another versatile Lady Pioneers in the win, adding six assists, four digs, one kill and an ace.
Once the finish line came into view, Yates was right back where WCMS wanted her: At the service line. Yates continued mixing up her serves and helped push the Lady Pioneers ahead 14-9, leaving Warren County one point away from completing the comeback.
Lyvia Wilson made sure that final point got started. Wilson threw her body in front of a blistering Stone Memorial serve to keep the ball alive, starting a back-and-forth rally that ended when Khloe Howell spotted an opening and dropped a perfect push shot into the back corner, completing the comeback.
Wilson finished with a team-high seven digs and added an assist. Howell had an ace to go along with the match-winning shot, while Emma Boon added an ace and a kill.
Warren County will look to keep rolling when it completes another busy week Thursday at Avery Trace. The match is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.
