REGIONAL CHAMPS AGAIN — The Oak Glen volleyball team celebrates winning the Class AA Region 1 title on Wednesday night.

NEW MANCHESTER — They’re Charleston bound again.

The tradition-rich Oak Glen volleyball team punched its ticket to yet another berth in the West Virginia State Tournament Wednesday night, sweeping Williamstown 25-13, 25-18, 25-21 to win a Class AA Region 1 title before a large, fired-up crowd in the Golden Bears’ gym.

“Oak Glen volleyball is noted around the state of West Virginia,” beamed winning Oak Glen head coach Morgan Saddler, whose team was a state runner-up last fall and the Class AA state champ in 2023, its eighth in school history. “It is truly a special program and it’s awesome to be part of it,” added the highly-successful Golden Bears’ coach.

Leading Oak Glen’s Class AA Region 1 triumph was its four talented seniors of Averi Martin, Brooklyn Six, Brayley Lash and Haylee Stewart. The seniors set the tone in Set 1 and the underclassmen followed their lead.

The Golden Bears’ stat leaders included Brooklyn Six (12 kills), Averi Martin (12 kills), Brayley Lash (eight kills), Mattie Carney (five kills), Haylee Stewart (three kills), Mikalyn Balch (39 assists), Keira Vick (14 digs), Kendall Six (14 digs) and Layla Skavenski (three digs).

“It’s unreal and I’m excited to go (to state) for a fourth time,” said Martin, who plans to continue her academic and volleyball career at Fairmont State. “I’m ready to go win a state championship. We have four seniors and we want to run the court. We want to lead our team to victory.”

The seniors played a big part in giving Oak Glen early momentum. The Golden Bears jumped out to a commanding 8-0 lead in the first set and never looked back while winning the set, 25-13. Martin, Brooklyn Six, Lash and Stewart combined for multiple kills in the opening set.

Saddler didn’t hesitate a second when asked what makes this year’s Oak Glen team so strong.

“They’re selfless,” praised the Golden Bears’ mentor. “They truly are a family, they come in every day to work hard for one another, and that’s what it’s all about. It takes every one to make a team. We are a full team sport, but our leadership is second to none. They’ve done a great job all season leading our team to success.”

The trend continued in the second set as again Oak Glen jumped out to a 4-0 lead and took as much as a 13-point (18-6) advantage. The Yellowjackets responded with a 11-4 run to pull within four points at 21-17. But the Golden Bears finished off the set, outscoring Williamstown 4-1 to win, 25-18. The deciding 25th point occurred on a kill rifled over the net by Lash.

“We start four seniors, three freshmen and two sophomores,” said Williamstown head coach Rachelle Cole, who led a veteran team to a state runner-up finish in 2024. “We’re young and we’re going to miss our seniors, they’re a huge part of the program, but we’re just kind of rebuilding, taking it a day at a time. From where we came from the beginning of the year until now, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Down 2-0 in sets, Williamstown put together its most impressive run of the night as the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the third set.

That’s when Saddler called a timeout to stem the tide.

The pep talk worked as Oak Glen went on a 17-10 run and impressively tied the set at 17-17 to regain momentum. The Golden Bears then wrapped up their spot in next week’s state tournament by outscoring the Yellowjackets 8-4 to win the set and match, 25-21.

“Volleyball is a full game of momentum, for sure,” said Saddler while explaining what she told her team in that all-important timeout. “In that third set we came in and got a little frazzled, and I said, girls we’re in control of this match right now, so just take a deep breath, and we did. We were able to kind of collect ourselves and get momentum back on our side.”

“She (Saddler) told our seniors to step up and lead our team,” observed Martin. “And just relax and stay calm, and just play how we know how to play.”

Williamstown concluded its season with a 13-19-3 record.

Top-seeded Oak Glen (25-10-3) will be playing in the state semifinals slated at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Nov. 11-13.

“Class AA plays Wednesday and the championships would be Thursday for all classes,” said Saddler. “The seeding ballots go out tomorrow (Thursday) and the coaches vote the top eight teams and then we’ll find out hopefully this weekend (who we play).”

“We’ve been working toward this since summer,” noted Martin of the state tourney. “We just come in every day and we grind it out and we want to work to win a state championship. We just want to come in and be fired up — just prove what we’ve been working for all season.”