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WEIRTON -- The Madonna volleyball team shook off a sluggish start against Paden City, and the Blue Dons took control from that point forward.
The Dons trailed the Wildcats, 16-14, in the first set, and after calling a timeout to regroup, Madonna seized control of the match as it swept Paden City, 25-19, 25-7, 25-13, in a West Virginia Class A Region 1, Section 1 Match Monday on Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court night inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium.
"We were not talking," Madonna (10-15) head coach Mike Orecchio said. "Communication in volleyball is everything. We started talking, calling the ball and we started to play consistent. Our outside hitters were putting the ball down. We were not setting the ball in the middle. They were expecting our outside hitters to hit, but then we dropped three or four down. We were able to get the momentum, and we were able to carry that forward."
After rallying to win the first game, the hosts kept their foot on the gas as they cruised to victories in the next two games to record the sweep.
Once the tide turned, the Wildcats were unable to get the momentum back on their side.
"The girls played much better," Paden City (3-23) head coach Allison Raper said. "They did well. I'm very happy with how they played. They played with a lot of heart, with a lot energy and they left it all out on the court."
With the win, Madonna will now play Magnolia at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the road.
"The seniors are excited about winning this match," Orecchio said. "We are excited about it because we get to go down and play (again) Wednesday."
Individually for Madonna, Chloe Orecchio collected three aces, one dig, 10 assists and two kills, Madi Owens tallied four aces, two digs, one assist and four kills and Mia Pietranton produced one ace, two digs, 10 assists and two kills. Also, Jules Thomshack contributed one ace, one assists, three kills and two blocks, Gigi Orecchio recorded three aces, six digs and one kill and Rylee Birkhimer contributed three aces and 10 kills. Finally, Abigail Boyd added one kill and one block, and Danyka DeCaria finished with one dig.
"The girls played really well," Coach Orecchio said. "They brought it back when they needed to. We were down in the first, and I told them what to do and what their weaknesses were. We dropped a few in there.
"We kept Paden City guessing. They started playing back expecting us to hit it deep, but we dropped some in on them. Our serving was really good. All the girls served really well."
The visitors from Wetzel County were able to go on some scoring runs during the match.
"We played them earlier in a tri, and we beat them," Coach Orecchio said. "They are a scrappy team. They're young, but we are young too. I have four freshmen, and the all saw some time. We are losing three seniors, so with them seeing time, it may not hurt too much."
The first game was tied at 5 early on, and the victors built a 12-8 lead forcing Paden City to call a timeout. Raper was able to rally her girls as they stormed back and took a 16-14 lead forcing Madonna to call a timeout. The Wildcats took an 18-17 lead, but the Dons rallied and scored eight of the final 10 points of the game to win by six to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
"They didn't do anything we didn't expect," Raper said. "We were ready. It was a good game."
The hosts raced out to a 6-2 lead in the second set, and Raper called a timeout with her team trailing, 10-4. The home team built their lead to 13-4 before pulling away to win the game by 18 to extend their lead in the match to 2-0.
The Blue Dons got off to another fast start in et three as they took an early 6-1 lead resulting in Raper calling a timeout. Raper was once again able to rally her team as Paden City pulled to within, 8-6, but the Blue Dons ran away with it from there as Madonna won the game by 12 points to win the match, 3-0.
"We have improved a lot," Raper said. "Three of the seven girls on the floor have played before. The rest have not played on a varsity court before. We are very young. We showed a lot of improvement."