Berkeley Springs opens volleyball season

Berkeley Springs High School opened the 2007 volleyball season with a road loss to Jefferson County on September, 4. The Indians competed well against their Class AAA opponent, before losing in three games to the Cougars 25-19, 25-23 and 25-14.

"The first contest of the year always provides anticipated excitement and emotion and tonight was no different," said Berkeley Springs coach Phil Hofe. "For us to win we need to have an attacking offense and most of the night we were on our heels and off balance. We stayed close in the first two games, especially the second, but in the third game we lost our intensity. Overall I was pleased with the way the girls played and I thought we were very competitive."

Kasi Jackson led the Tribe in assists with 13, Courtney Jones came up with nine kills and four points off of serve, Amber Booher added eight kills and four points off of serve, Corrine Martin had five points off of serve and Kelsey McCoy had three points off of serve and three assists for Berkeley Springs.

Two days later, September 6, the Indians opened their home season with a match against sectional nemesis Frankfort. The Falcons have denied Berkeley Springs post-season success on several occasions and continued their winning ways over the Tribe with a three-game sweep, by respective scores of 25-23, 25-10 and 25-17.

Berkeley Springs fought the Falcons tooth-and-nail in the first game, but fell to their Mineral County rival 25-23, after the game was tied at 23-23. The loss seemed to take some of the wind out of Berkeley Springs' sails, as they were soundly defeated in the next two games.

"It isn't hard to get the team excited to play Frankfort and the first game was a reflection of that," said Hofe. "We came up just a little short and I don't think we regained our intensity after that. Again our offense was not effective, but I saw things that make me optimistic that things will improve as we go forward."

Jones had four points off of serve, nine kills and seven blocks, McCoy had a pair of blocks and five kills, Booher notched four digs and three kills, while both Martin and Meghann Ambrose scored five points off of serve for the Indians.

On Saturday, September 8, Berkeley Springs traveled to Hagerstown, Md. to compete in the St. James Tournament at St. James Academy and finished second to the host team.

Berkeley Springs went 2-2 in preliminary rounds to earn the number three seed. They then defeated St. Maria Goretti, the number two seed, in one of the semifinal matches by respective scores of 25-19 and 25-9.

In the final St. James defeated the Tribe in two games 25-19 and 25-17, respectively.

"A slow start seems to be an early season trademark of this team, which is just what we had in the preliminary rounds," Hofe said. "We regained our intensity in the semifinal match, but against St. James our passing was off and the offense lacked intensity. Overall the day was full of ups and downs. This team will regain its composure, work out the kinks and go forward."

Jackson had 46 assists and 22 points off of serve on the day, McCoy provided 15 kills, three blocks and 12 points off of serve, Booher had nine points off of serve, three blocks and 22 kills, Martin added 18 points off of serve while Jones came through with 28 kills and five blocks.

Jones, for her effort, was named to the all-tournament team.

Berkeley Springs will host Martinsburg tomorrow, September 13 and Petersburg on Monday, September 17. In between, on Saturday, September 15, the Indians will travel to Mercersburg Academy for a quadrangular meet.