By BRIAN WOODSON
BLUEFIELD — Amber Miller was a killing machine on Halloween night. At least on the volleyball court.
Miller, one of 11 freshmen on the 15-woman Concord volleyball squad, recorded 14 kills, leading the Mountain Lions to a 30-20, 30-22, 30-15 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Bluefield State on Wednesday night at Ned Shott Gymnasium.
It was just Concord’s fourth win of the season, but the Lions (4-23, 3-13) will take it.
“It feels awesome to win, it’s very exciting,” said Miller, who also added 11 digs. “It was been a tough year, but it is a rebuilding year because we have so many freshmen and only three returning players.
“It’s a rebuilding year, but we’re getting better.”
The same can be said for Bluefield State (0-18, 0-16), although the struggling Lady Blues’ program is still looking for that elusive first win of the season.
“They’ve just had coach after coach and I’m going to be here with them, I’m here for the long haul,” Walters said. “If we get that psyche turned around we’re going to be all right because they never quit.
“They might hit a ball or shank it, but they don’t quit.”
That was proven all night, as the Blues continued to fall behind, but fight back into the games. Led by the play of lone senior Kim Patton, Bluefield State rallied from a 19-10 deficit to narrow the margin to 21-19 in the night’s first game before losing nine of the next 10 points.
“Kimmy was on fire tonight, she was on fire,” said Walters, who had just seven players, including one substitute. “We’ve got players beat up and banged up and we just don’t have subs, it absolutely kills us.
“These kids have heart, but they just run out of gas, The other team is just shuffling people in and out, and they’re looking at me and we don’t have anybody to shuffle in and out.”
Bluefield State took its lone lead of the night in the second game, when the Blues rallied from a 17-8 deficit to finally get in front at 22-21 on one of seven kills by Patton.
From there, Concord scored the next nine points to finish out the game, with Miller and friends swatting the ball across the net.
“At times we play our hearts out and then we have a letdown and then it goes through the team like wildfire,” Walters said.
“We just fold, mentally, we’re just not mentally tough and right now that’s killing us.
“We’ve got to learn that just because we shank a ball or something happens that we can turn it around, but we don’t.”
Meanwhile, Concord coach Patricia Hardin was pleased to see her young squad deal positively with adversity.
“We kept our composure better than we have earlier in the season so that’s a positive,” Hardin said. “Some of the people who haven’t played a lot got some playing time, and they weren’t playing early in the season and they are now.
“They’ve developed so that is always a positive. You look at Aug. 8 and Oct. 31 and they have gotten better...Eleven out of the 15 are freshmen, and no seniors. We’re going to be here next year, that should be good for the future.”
Concord had an easier time in the deciding game, shaking a 5-5 tie, scoring seven straight points and then cruised to take the final game and the match.
“We had a pretty good game, the passes were on, the sets were there and it flowed better,” Miller said. “We started to pick it up a little bit, we pulled it together and got back ahead.”
Miller wasn’t the only Lion doing some ‘killing’ on this night. Lindsey Sheppard (7 kills), Kayla Martin (5) and Alexandria Albright (5) also had their share, while Tomi Dement had 13 assists and Kelly Newberry added 10 digs. Martin also had four aces for Concord.
“It’s always nice to win, but it looked like there were some things we worked on this week that we didn’t execute in the game so that is not a good thing,” Hardin said. “You’re trying to learn new things and execute things, and when the opportunity arises and you don’t use it, it gets frustrating, but we always practice better than we play...
“We’re always digging, diving and trying, but we just haven’t transitioned from practice to game play mode all the time.”
Bluefield State received contributions from everyone, including Susan Dillon (5 kills, 5 blocks), Virginia Smith (9 assists), Nikki Mackey (6 assists) and Megan Ferrell (4 digs), while Patton added five blocks.
“It’s hard, but I’ll tell you what, things are looking up here,” Walters said. “These kids, they never miss practice, they’re here every practice. It’s a rebuilding thing, I knew that when I took it.”
Walters is used to winning. He was part of district and regional title teams in football at Haysi and basketball at Pocahontas. He hopes to develop the same attitude at Bluefield State.
“It’s a learning process and I’m learning,” Walters said. “I’m learning a whole lot, but I wouldn’t trade them for nothing. I work them hard, I run them to death and we’re in good shape.
“They’re just a good bunch of kids, I love them to death. I love this group of kids. I’ve won district championships and been in regional playoffs, but I am probably more proud of this bunch because they have stuck together.”
Concord and Bluefield State will play Pitt-Johnstown and Seton Hill this weekend, and then enter WVIAC tourney action starting next Thursday in Charleston.
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
