Creek seniors lead win over Weir High
WEIRTON — Sometimes when a team has to put young players into a varsity game sooner than anticipated, there is an adjustment period.
For the Indian Creek volleyball team, the adjustment period was about half of the first set. After that, though, the Redskins meshed like it was the same unit that has been on the court all season and swept Weir High, 25-23, 25-7, 25-9, Thursday night on the Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl R. Hamill Fieldhouse.
“We are dealing with a couple of injuries right now,” Indian Creek coach Molly Wilson said. “We have a couple of freshman in there. This was our first game playing with that rotation. Getting the girls comfortable with it and getting them talking to one another was the (goal of) the first set.
“Once they were comfortable, they pushed it the second and third.”
With regular contributors sidelined, Wilson needed girls to step up. It was her group of seniors that did in a big way.
“It was all of our seniors,” Wilson said. “The seniors really picked up, took leadership of the court and made the girls go. I have to hand it to them. We had to rely on them and they stepped up. Getting the freshman in there and getting their confidence was good.”
One player in particular who stood out to Wilson was Sarah Mazaferro, who finished with eight kills, an ace, a block and a dig.
“Sarah has been our key leader in most games,” Wilson said. “We always look to her. Tonight, she was on fire.”
The Red Riders, now 0-13, came out strong and took advantage of Indian Creek (7-7) getting used to a different rotation by scoring 10 of the first 13 points in the first set to open up a lead it would hang onto until late. Once the Redskins got going, though, Weir High could not slow down the attack the rest of the match.
Indian Creek scored five-straight to get back within three, then used another 5-0 run to knot the score at 19-19. The teams were knotted up three more times late in the set, trading points until the Redskins finally edged ahead for good to win, 25-23.
Weir High scored first in the second set, but it was all Indian Creek after that. The Redskins went on runs of 7-0 and 12-1 to completely take over en route to a 25-7 second set win.
The third was all Redskins right from the opening serve as Indian Creek rattled off the first 12 points before Weir High got on the board with a missed serve by the Redskins. Indian Creek closed the set — and the match — on a 13-2 run to earn the sweep.
Also for the Redskins, Chelsea Connor had 10 kills, three digs, a block and an ace. Olivia Wukelic had eight kills. Autumn Miller had 29 assists and two digs. Madi Freshwater finished with eight digs and an ace. Lexi Crane had four kills.
For Weir High, Sophia Mikula had 19 blocks, six digs and an ace. Gia Fuscardo had eight digs, seven blocks, two kills and an ace. Morgan Grant had four digs. Kiara Magone finished with two digs, a kill and an ace.
Indian Creek plays Edison at home on Monday.
Weir High travels to Tyler Consolidated on Saturday.
Red Riders coach Carrie Magnone declined to comment.
(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com. For local sports updates, follow us on Twitter @HSDTsports.)