Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s duo of Nicole Hammerquist (23) and Lexi Carte (26) leap high for the ball Tuesday night as Wheeling Park’s Tiarah Sutphin (25) and Hallie Lawson (7) look on during action inside the ‘Palace on the Hill.’ The Purple Riders claimed a sweep by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-22.

WHEELING — It didn’t take Martins Ferry long to let Wheeling Park know it meant business Tuesday night in high school volleyball action.

The Purple Riders (14-4) reeled off the first six points of the match and overcame 11 deadlocks in the third set to sweep the Patriots (5-11) by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-22 on Teacher Appreciation Night inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ at Wheeling Park High School.

With the win, which took exactly one hour to complete, Martins Ferry strengthened its hold on the No. 2 spot in the latest OVAC Class 3A rankings. It is battling perennial power Shenandoah for the top spot, with the Zeps (17-1) holding a slim 56.56 average to the Purple Riders’ 55.18. The cut-off date to qualify for the OVAC Tournament is Thursday. The pairings will be set on Friday, with the top 4 in each of the five divisions making the tournament, which gets started on Monday at the higher seeded schools gymnasiums. The finals will be staged Saturday, Oct. 11 at the ECO Center.

“I was pleased with how we came out and played tonight. We had a couple of days rest and tonight was a good night for us,” Martins Ferry head coach Jaela Koller said. “We had some ups and downs, but the thing I liked tonight was that we didn’t get stuck in the quicksand and allowed them to score a bunch of points in a row.”

Koller said the upcoming OVAC Tournament has been a goal of this team since last year.

“If we play our cards right the rest of this week, we can probably bump up to No. 1, but hey, the top 4 is what we’ve been waiting for, and then the playoffs.”

Martins Ferry treks to Woodsfield today to meet Monroe Central before hosting Harrison Central on Thursday inside Tolbert Gymnasium.

Olivia Harkness started the match with six consecutive service points as Martins Ferry took command early. Leading 16-10, the Purple Riders tallied nine of the final 12 points for a 25-13 win.

The second set saw the two teams knotted three times in the early going, but Martins Ferry slowly but surely pulled away for a 25-14 triumph.

Both sets took 15 minutes each.

In the 30-minute third set, Wheeling Park fought back from a 5-2 deficit to take a 10-6 lead only to watch Martins Ferry rally for a 11-11 deadlock. The set was tied eight more times, the last at 22 before the Purple Riders ran off the final three points.

“I think the girls came out in the third set with a little more fire. We finally got some blocks, some kills and we were finding some things that worked,” Wheeling Park assistant coach Mackenzie Viakley said while filling in for Samantha Gentle who was sick and not able to coach. “Martins Ferry is a really good team with some really good hitters.

Giana Chirpas and Nicole Hammerquist controlled the net play with 17 and nine kills, respectively. Chirpas also blocked five shots, three more than Hammerquist. Lexi Carte added half-a-dozen kills. Harkness was responsible for most of the kills with 28 assists. She also charted four service aces. SJ Koller logged 19 digs.

“We do rely a lot on Giana for her hitting, but on a routine basis, we don’t have a lot of height and we don’t have a ton of hitters, so we work together as a team,” Coach Koller said. “I use everybody I can. Tonight was a good effort.”

Wheeling Park was led on the stat sheet by Marissa Hunley with 13 digs and Olivia Hengler with 11 assists. Gracyn Davis added nine assists, while Grace Tamburin charted six kills, one more than Morgan Zoladz.