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Ripley’s Kessel state’s top volleyball player
Will continue her net career at Marshall

By JAY W. BENNETT, jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

PARKERSBURG - Ripley High School senior Lexy Kessel has been honored by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association as the 2009 state volleyball player of the year.

The two-time Mountain State Athletic Conference POY topped a field that included runner-up Sam Bailey of Doddridge County as well as Preston's Paula Renteria and Rainelle Dunlevy of Oak Glen, who tied for third.

"I am surprised because we didn't make it to the state tournament," replied Kessel, whose team lost in the sectional finals to Parkersburg High School and then was eliminated in the regional semifinals by eventual state champion Spring Valley.

"It was nerve-racking the whole year and it was disappointing to lose, but at least the two people we lost to were in the state finals."

Kessel, who is currently ranked third in her class of more than 200, will continue her volleyball career at Marshall University for head coach Mitch Jacobs.

Last year, Kessel and her teammates reached the state championship match before falling to Musselman.

At 5-foot-8, Kessel knows her days as a hitter are numbered except for club ball, but she's quite content joining the Thundering Herd to be a defensive specialist.

"I think my passing got better from last year and I do think my hitting was better," said Kessel, who holds Viking school records for career kills (1,749), single-season downed spikes (701), career digs (1,658), single-season digs (742) and hitting efficiency (.371).

"I've always known if I wanted to play Division I that I would be a passer and I had to start focusing on that as a sophomore. I think I might like passing better than hitting. It's a little more difficult to master than hitting."

Ripley head coach Corby Stalnaker knows players like Kessel don't come around very often and she's going to be missed in Jackson County.

"She busted her butt every play," Stalnaker said. "It's just her overall game. She can pound it or dink it.

"She can also set. She had to be a setter a couple times and that's what makes her very competitive."

The Vikings, who were riddled with injuries and sickness and rarely had their full team available, finished this season at 39-14-2 with half of their losses coming between Parkersburg (five times) and Spring Valley (two times).

Kessel knows going from Class AAA volleyball to Division I will be a big jump, but she's ready to give it her best.

"I think at first it will be a lot different from high school because those hitters are beasts," she said. "But, I think I'll be able to make the adjustment.

"I need to get stronger and probably need to work on my quickness, but it's always been kind of a dream of mine to play at Marshall."

Dominant to me would be a player who can control a game in every aspect and do so against "quality" opponents for an entire season. Compare how a player does against the top rated teams in their class. I've seen players have great games against weaker Class A schools and were then dominated themselves by decent Class AAA schools. I've said before that I consider Lexy Kessel as one of the top players in the state. I have no ties with Spring Valley, but there's no question in my mind that the best player in the Cabell - Wayne area is Hannah Bailey. The young lady can do it all and she's only a junior. If she's not the POY this year, it should be her's in 2010.

I saw the Region 1 game at Tyler with Oak Glen VS Ritchie County. Pretty inpressive game. Oak Glen being down the first 2 games and coming back and winning the next 3 to take the championship. Oak Glen's # 4, Rainelle Dunlevy, had a very good impression on me. She's a spiker and can place that ball anywhere on that court. She can play anywhere on that court. Oak Glen has an all-round good team, that works together to get the job done. I believe she was also an All State pick for last year. Good Luck to her and her team at states. CONGRATULATIONS TO OAK GLEN!!!!

Does anyone know of any other players are committed yet?
Lexy Kessel: Marshall
Paula Renteria: WVU
??? anyone else?

In my opinion Player of the Year Candidates should be really strong in their strength area or very stong overall players. This year is interesting because I don't think there is an obvious Erica Manor or Cameron Yoho or Anna Wherry. Spring Valley, Greenbrier East, Beckley, Huntington, Ripley, PHS and Musselman all have players who are very good players, but Player of the Year status should be someone heads over everyone else. I don't see that level of excellence as clearly this year.
I do think Spring Valley has the best overall team, a very strong group of talented, committed players with good coaching. If you were naming a group of players, they would have my vote. I haven't seen Ripley win a match, Kessel may be very talented, I just haven't seen it. Greenbrier East has several strong players and Huntington has a hitter that plays all around that was impressive last weekend,#11. PHS has several strong hitters that hit and play defense, one senior #6. Beckley's #33 is also a strong hitter.
Beckley - #33
Greenbrier East - Alleyne
Greenbrier East - Cole
PHS - Patterson
Spring Valley - Bailey
Spring Valley - Burns
Huntington - # 11

Kessel of Ripley, Bailey of Doddridge, Cole of Spring Valley, Burns of Spring Valley, Renteria of Preston, Woods of Beckely, Ellison of Wirt, Fritz of Greater Beckley, Alleyne(setter) of Greenbrier East, and Cole of Greenbrier East. I think this might be a good starting point. If there are some players I left off the list please let me know.

I know she intends to play after she graduates, has several schools recruiting her, and has not yet committed to one yet. More specific information would have to come from her, sorry.

Absolutely, Miss Kessel is an outstanding player. Marshall should benefit from the pick-up, as they've recently lost a senior DS. She was already mentioned as an obvious choice for the list of POY candidates, and deservedly so.

Any other candidates out there? I enjoy talking WV volleyball with people in-the-know, coaches and parents alike, or any other knowledgeable persons.

What about that middle-hitter from Charleston Catholic? Anyone know what her name is? Saw her once this year and was impressed with her all-around play.

Also, what would it take for, say, a libero or setter to get considered for POY? Is it really a traditionally all-around-player award? Just curious.

I just watched Williamstown soundly defeat Doddridge at Doddridge on their Senior Night, 3-1. While I agree with you that Samantha Bailey is an excellent player who certainly makes the short-list of POY candidates, senior OH Tiffany Copley from Williamstown was the best player on the floor, hands-down. Her stat-line reads: 15 kills, 10 digs, 11 points. Also, it's significant to note that she played heads-up against Samantha all night and was the better player of the two. The 6-foot tall Bailey only had one block against the 5'7" Copley, who only received 19-20 sets over four games in Williamstown's balanced attack.

Tiffany has also played against Lexy Kessel at an early tournament this season and while they are closely matched, Tiffany was still the better all-around player... and that's saying something as you probably know. In my mind I would rank them 1 and 2 as far as all-around players that I've seen.

Whats with the sarcasm?

When you have a well balanced team that is playing very well, it is possible to have more than one kid that would be a viable candidate when compared to other players in the state. The GW teams from a few years ago had at least two girls that were viable candidates. Waldie and Holestine one year and Waldie and O'Malley the next year, both of those teams had a compliment of supporting players. Conversely, the great Parkersburg teams the couple of years before that had clearly one player that was head and shoulders above the others, Wherry, she was surrounded by several other good players.

Spring Valley has a very good, all around team this year which makes it hard to pin point one individual over the others. I listed Cole first because I kind of see her as the catalyst. The others were also listed because on any given game day, one or the other could put the team on their back. They all bring a little something different to the team. If you haven't seen them play, they really are a very well balanced team. They have been playing the past 3 weeks with two senior starters out due to injury and have gone 11-0 during that stretch due in part to the play and leadership of the mentioned players.

NOBODY is unbeatable, period. A team has to come ready to play every match regardless of whom it is. So far, Spring Valley has a record of 32-0-1, but they have worked very hard to get there. They have had a few close calls and I am quite certain they will be challenged many more times this season and could very well lose the next time they step on the court, thats why you play the games. Who knows if they finish the season as those other teams mentioned above did, theres a lot of volleyball left to play. You asked for candidates, the 3 girls mentioned all deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the other best players in the state.

Wow!

Three players of the year on one team! They MUST be unbeatable.

Seriously, I didn't ask who was GOOD, all-state, all-tournament or who was going to college, I asked who were LEGITIMATE player of the year candidates.

I'm NOT saying that one of those girls might not be a POY candidate, but all three? Please... Even GW a couple of years ago didn't have three candidates and that was a monster team.

Cadera Cole - Spring Valley one of the quickest kids in WV HS volleyball, setter that runs the show for the T'wolves, was MVP of the Parkersburg tournament earlier this year

Hannah Bailey and Sarah Burns - Spring Valley Both are big hitters, Burns in the middle, Bailey on the outside. Bailey is also one of the better defensive players and passers , very solid all around player and is on Coach Jacobs radar at Marshall. Both have multiple all tournament team awards.

It really is hard for everyone to see and evaluate the best players in the state and sometimes some very deserving kids are left out of the honors

that is real hard to decide because you really don't get a chance to see all the players in the state. The north don't see the south and the south don't don't see the north. I would really like to see the names that come on this board so I can get a chance to see what kind of talent is in the state.