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WEIRTON -- The Weir volleyball team has earned bragging rights until the city championship is decide.
Weir shook off a rough third game against Madonna as the Red Riders responded and defeated the Blue Dons, 25-19, 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, Thursday night on Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium.
"We did not play our best game," Weir (6-8) head coach Fran Capaldi said. "We didn't."
The visitors seemed to be in control after winning the first two games, however, the hosts refused to go away as they rallied to win the third one to get back into the match.
"We did not lose any hope," Madonna (2-10) head coach Mike Orecchio said. "We were hyped up. It is the city rivalry. It was fun.
"Weir knew they were in a dogfight. We were ready to play. If we got that fourth set, I think we would have had them. Weir is a good team. We never back down from a challenge.
"We have a lot of depth. We used our whole bench. We were ready. We have improved quite a bit.
"I am proud of the girls. They played their hearts out. They did not lose hope."
Individually for Weir, Mea Kaufman collected 23 assists, two blocks, 23 digs, fur aces and four kills, Brayley Lash recorded one assists, nine digs, 13 kills, three aces and three blocks and Janai Turner contributed two aces, 22 digs, four aces and one kill. Also for the victors, Marissa Mascio chipped in with eight digs, eight aces and two kills, Maleea Faulks finished with two digs and 11 kills and Addison Duffy added four digs and two aces. Next, Elle Maley tallied three kills and two blocks, Kylie Dean delivered two aces and two digs and Lillie Caranda produced five digs and two blocks. Finally, Amalia Kirlangitis ended up with seven assists and two digs.
"They tipped us a lot," Orecchio said. "We shut down their front line in the last two sets. They started tipping, and we got away from our game plan a little bit. We did prepare for them tipping the ball. We're definitely excited about the city championship."
For Madonna, Jules Thomshack collected one ace, one dig, one assist, two kills and even blocks, Rylee Birkhimer recorded one ace, one kill and five kills and Maddi Owens ended up with three aces and five kills. Also for the girls in white, Chloe Orecchio tallied two aces and four digs, Mia Pietranton produced 11 assists and Myah Ferguson finished with two aces. Finally, Gigi Orecchio contributed one ace, and Abigail Boyd delivered one kill.
The Blue Dons have played three straight days.
"It's draining," Coach Orecchio said. "We're in shape. We prepared for this all summer. They know in the summer they have to run a mile if they want to be in summer camp. Then to be the gym, they have to run another mile with a better time.
"We run every day. We are excited for the city championship."
Weir did what it had to do to win the first two games as they won the first one by six points before winning the second one by eight.
The Red Riders were looking for the sweep, however, the Blue Dons refused to throw in the towel. Madonna built a lead and went on two win the game by six points to pull within 2-1 in the match.
"We let our guard down," Capaldi said. "I think we thought we were just going to take the third set. Give Madonna credit. They played hard. They picked up hard balls I thought were going to fall. We were not present in every point we played."
After losing the third game, the Red- Riders responded and took control of Game 4 on their winning to win the game and the match.
"We got back to fundamentals," Capaldi said. "I think we overcomplicated simple plays. They were giving us free balls, and we did not do well with them."
Madonna is scheduled to play Monday at Southern Local, while Weir is slated to play Catholic Central Tuesday at home.