Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
GALLIPOLIS — Seven games into her first-ever varsity season, Aspen Barnes has officially thrown her welcome party.
Gallia Academy’s freshman outside hitter entered Thursday’s contest against unbeaten Wheelersburg as the team’s leader in kills and kill percentage.
And, after the clinic she hosted in a wild five-set win over the Pirates, it’s safe to say she’s no longer budding.
She’s a full-blown star.
Barnes’ 29 kills — a new career high — paced the Blue Angels to a 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 16-14 victory.
Simply put, Wheelersburg didn’t have an answer for her.
“Aspen has played a lot of high-level volleyball in the offseason,” Gallia Academy coach Ashton Webb said. “That’s really prepared her for this moment. It’s hard to come in as a freshman and play against seniors. It’s a tough ballgame. But her understanding from the beginning has been her knowing she’s going to have to step up. It just so happens that she’s turned into one of our leaders. I’m super happy for her. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on her and she’s just soaring. It’s happened naturally.”
Barnes’ 29 kills went alongside her 12 digs and five aces.
She also had plenty of help from her teammates, who all answered the bell when called upon.
“This has been a huge focus for us,” Webb said. “We’ve been watching film for two weeks, we’ve gone through scouting reports and we’ve practiced like we’re playing Wheelersburg every day. It changes our game, playing at that high-level speed. I’m just proud of our girls. This is stuff we’ve worked on. I just think these girls have really worked their butts off for this.”
Wheelersburg (6-1) took a quick 5-1 lead in the night’s first set behind Alyssa Mullins. But when the Blue Angels went ahead 7-6, thanks to a kill from junior setter Gracyn Clark, they never looked back.
Barnes logged an ace for a 10-8 lead and freshman Jacey McWhorter served up back-to-back aces for a 16-12 lead. When Abby Clark sent a ball screaming to the floor, it gave Gallia a five-point advantage, one that stood at the end of a 25-19 win.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
The Pirates fought back in the second, using Mullins, Grace Woodward and Laynee Walker to do so. They’d take their first lead of the set at 16-15 and extend it to 22-18 before putting away a 25-21 win, evening the match.
It looked as if ‘Burg had carried that momentum into the third as it used an 8-0 run midway through to take a late 19-17 lead.
But the Blue Angels fought back to force a 19-19 tie, thanks to a kill from Rylee Saunders, before using the service line — again — to nail down a win.
Clark gave Gallia a 20-19 lead with an ace before Barnes toed the line. She’d help her teammates score five straight points, giving the Blue Angels a 25-20 win.
“We serve a lot from corner to corner and we try to get the angles going,” Webb said. “A hard pass outside your body, so we drive them really hard. In high school, teams don’t really do that a lot, corner to corner. So that was a huge thing for us. Jacey was on fire tonight. We’ve told the girls the past two weeks to serve aggressively. We’d rather them serve two feet deep than in the net. So we’ve really focused on that and making sure the other team is out of system.”
That trend continued as McWhorter posted two consecutive aces early in the fourth. However, Wheelersburg managed to grab a 6-5 lead behind Mullins before Mylee Gleim ended a 6-0 run with an ace of her own.
Gallia Academy went back ahead at 11-10 and it was back-and-forth from that point forward.
PHOTOS: Images from Gallia Academy’s win over Wheelersburg
Laiken Wright gave ‘Burg a 19-18 lead, only to see it evaporate when Saunders put GA ahead 22-21.
But a fifth set was destined to be in the cards.
A service error and a kill from Ella Chamberlin gave the Pirates a 25-23 win.
In a race to 15 points, the Blue Angels worked to earn a 10-6 advantage, following a kill from Frazier. She’d send down another kill for a 12-9 score before the Pirates went on a 3-0 burst to tie the set.
Wheelersburg took a 14-13 lead with a kill from Walker. But facing match point, Gallia called a timeout, regrouped and slammed the door shut.
Abby Clark tied the game with a kill and Barnes took it from there, sending two consecutive balls to the floor — her 28th and 29th kills — to send Gallia home a winner.
Statistically, following Barnes’ spectacular night, Gracyn Clark quarterbacked the Blue Angels’ offense with 52 assists alongside 12 digs.
The All-Ohioan’s career assist total now stands at 1,707 with a year and a half left to play.
“Gracyn has been an underclassmen these past two years and when I came in, I really went to her and told her that I wanted her to be a leader,” Webb said. “I want her to be the one that directs our girls and our captain. She’s been amazing and she’s been super precise. We’ve really worked on her high contact and she’s really focused on it in the offseason, and now.”
Frazier and Abby Clark each ended the night with 13 kills and McWhorter added six aces and 16 digs. Chloe Bennett led the team’s defense with 31 digs and Saunders chipped in with seven kills.
The Pirates were led by Mullins, who had 20 kills and 23 digs. Woodward and Hall each had eight kills, Chamberlin finished with 29 digs and 38 assists, and Gleim had a team-high 30 digs.
Wheelersburg is back in action on Tuesday, traveling to Portsmouth West, while the Blue Angels take a trip to South Webster on Monday, looking to continue stacking up victories.
“It’s our team culture. We know that anyone on the bench is able to go in at any time,” Webb said. “That constant chase, that cat and mouse game of positions is really awesome for our program. People know that they have to step up in those moments. South Webster will give us a run for our money. They play a different style. It’s a faster tempo, like Wheelersburg does. It’s hard to defend fast tempo at the high school level. We’ll have to make sure we’re on point.”
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