Volleyball: Broad Run Alone at the Top in Dulles District After First Win over Loudoun County Since 2005

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Leesburg (Oct. 7, 2009) - The faces of high school athletes often tell the tale.


Tuesday night at Loudoun County High School, a Broad Run volleyball team rolled into the Raiders gym and looked confident and almost relaxed as they took game one, 26-24, and then jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the second game.

Loudoun County on the other hand looked tense as they strove to please a packed home stands on the Dig Pink fundraiser night for breast cancer awareness. The Raiders, after all, had the resume to protect: back-to-back state titles and just a total of four defeats since the start of 2006.

The Raiders fought back to take game two, 25-20, but Broad Run, looking for its first win over LC since 2005, not only took the pivotal game three but did it in shocking fashion, slamming their way to a 20-9 lead and 25-17 victory.

Again, LC would not quietly and the Raiders started playing the volleyball in the fourth game that has led them to three straight AA state finals. Winning 25-18 set up a fifth game with the Dulles District lead at the halfway point in the season on the line.

By now the face of confidence was on the Loudoun County players as they were able to smile by breaking a 6-6 tie and turning it into what appeared to be an insurmountable, 12-7, lead.

Just three points from allowing the Raiders comeback, the Spartans dug deep and with a line-up that times had a freshman (Molly Maloney) and three sophomores (Jennie Himler, Mallory Brickerd and Katie Sims) on the court, BR found the groove and scored one of the school's biggest volleyball wins in many years.

Brickerd was key down the stretch as she had the kill, off a Maloney set, that started the turnaround and then she had three more kills and a big solo block to end the match.

Trailing 12-8 after Brickerd's kill, BR survived a rally when Brickerd was able to took the LC block for a point. With senior Lizzie Deane serving, BR made it 12-10 as senior Elisa Scudder took a short set and put it away in the middle.

The Spartan block was a huge factor all night and when the Raiders went wide trying to get around it, it was 12-11 and the Raiders called time out.

BR tied it with a Brickerd kill but her next attempt was long and LC had a 13-12 and the ball.

Brickerd (who else!) made a nice pass to Maloney who set it right back on the left side and the lanky sophomore stroked it for a 13-13 tie.

Senior Carolyn Pearce went back to serve and the Raiders ran their offense but Scudder was at the net to block the attack. The Raiders went outside but a hitting error left it match point.

LC received and ran a play into the middle and Brickerd was waiting with the solo block and the celebration began.

Broad Run (6-0, 9-3) followed up the win with a sweep over AAA Heritage on Wednesday. Loudoun County (5-1, 12-2) will now look to win the rest of their district matches and force a tie with the Spartans by returning the favor in Ashburn at the second district meeting.

Stats:
Broad Run
Emily Sears - 4 aces, 14 kills
Elisa Scudder - 9 kills, 2 solo & 2 asst blocks
Mallory Brickerd - 20 kills, 1 solo & 2 asst blocks, 10 digs
Lizzie Deane - 26 digs
Carolyn Pearce - 31 asst, 9 digs

Leading the Raiders were: Emily Vandegrift (16 kills, 3 blocks, 2 assists), Juliane Hanna (14 kills, 10 digs, 10 points), Molly Baldwin (9 kills, 5 blocks), Sammy Dormio (6 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks, 5 points), Jenna Strange (5 kills, 4 blocks), Rachel Arigo (2 kills, 2 aces, 9 points), Robin Marsala (25 assists, 13 digs, 9 points, 4 aces), Colleen Bowlds (20 assists, 13 points, 5 aces, 5 digs), Gabby Serafin (18 digs), Kathleen Horvath (5 digs), Allie Cain (2 digs, 2 assists), Erin Dancy (4 points), Hannah Arnold (4 digs).