West Virginia’s high school playoffs held all three class state finals at the Charleston Civic Center on November 12, 2016. West Virginia’s high schools are divided into 3 different classes identified as Class AAA, Class AA, and Class A and are classified by student population.
Three defending champions returned to the playoff tournament in 2016 and only one team won state title back to back.
Musselman and George Washington are no strangers to meeting one another in the state finals and in 2016 Musselman took their 5th Class AAA title state volleyball championship title and 3rd title in the last 4 years. Musselman swept George Washington for the title.
Lexi Fritts and Jaden Grey led the Musselman in the finals and were named first-team all-state players. Coach Shawn Martz gained his 500-win mark in 2016 and was named the 2016 National Federation of High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year for West Virginia. He was also named the Eastern Panhandle Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
George Washington had 3 team members named on the all-tournament all-state team: Ashley McClung, Liddy Elmore, and Tessa Wyner.
Philip Barbour is the only team to win back to back state title championship with a sweep against Bridgeport and took the Class AA title. Philip Barbour finished with an overall 11-11-3 record and was left ranked #11 in the state with Bridgewater ranked #10 and overall record of 32-8-5.
Abby Strait had 26 kills and 3 blocks for Bridgewater during the final match and completed a school-record and state-leading record of 819 kills during the season. Strait also totaled 125 blocks, 163 digs, 53 aces, and 32 assists during her senior season. Payton Hefner totaled 37 assists and 7 digs and Kristen Crowder added 8 kills. All three players were named all-tournament team.
East Hardy defeated Wirt County in a 5 game match set taking the Class A title for the first time in school’s history. Wirt County was looking for their 11th overall state crown but came up short this past season. East Hardy finished their season with an overall 31-6-2 and was ranked #6 in the state. Wirt County had a 22-11-1 season and left them ranked #18 in the state.
East Hardy’s Maxine Cassel lead the team with a double-double of 20 kills and 21 digs which gave her a spot on the all-tournament team as well as libero Emily Corttrell who also had a match-high of 30 digs. East Hardy Cougars dominated in defense with a total of 124 digs during the match.
Wirt County’s Kylie Stephen’s had 24 kills while setter Katie Frazier had a match-high of 60 assists. Haley Moore reached match-high 34 kills giving her and Frazier all-tournament team.
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