Volleyball: Valley Wins Thriller Over Heritage to Clinch Tie for Cedar Run District Regular Season Title

The final points of game five: Loudoun Valley scores three points to go up 12-10 but Heritge counters with three straight points to lead, 13-12. Valley then scores the final three points to win the match, 15-13.


Loudoun Valley captains Morgan Clark and Nicole Bennett after the Vikings wrapped up a share of the AAA Cedar Run District regular season title Tuesday night with a five-game win over Heritage.

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Purcellville (Oct. 21, 2009) - High school volleyball doesn't get any better than the thrilling match between AAA rivals Heritage and Loudoun Valley Tuesday night. Hey, don't take our word for it ... how about Heritage coach Carmel Keilty who called it an "awesome match" and her team lost!

All the elements of great theater were present with Keilty visiting her old school, Loudoun Valley, where she had led the Vikes to state titles and it was the second "Dig Pink" breast cancer awareness fundraiser between the two schools and the host Vikings had a chance to wrap up a share of the Cedar Run District regular season title.

Add it some fantastic individual and team athletic moments and you had two-plus hours of excitement with Loudoun Valley emerging with a 25-23, 22-25, 28-26, 22-25, 15-13 win but only after winning the final three points of the evening.


Loudoun Valley, on an 11-game winning streak, is now 6-0 in district and 14-4 overall, and needs just one win in its final two district matches to nail the automatic Northwest Region bid for the Cedar Run. Heritage (4-2, 10-7) will have to emerge as champion or runner-up to Valley in the Cedar Run postseason tournament to advance to regional play.

The first game was all knotted up at 20-20 when Valley inched ahead with senior Lindsey Phipps (10 kills) putting away a Nicole Bennett set (51 assists) after a long rally. Another the next point, Viking senior Sarah Malsch took care of a stray pass and it was 22-20 Valley.

Heritage got a point on a service error but Bennett, key to the Vikes 11-game run as she is the lone setter in Valley's 5-1 offense, dumped the ball into the middle of Heritage's "block hole" to end a rally. Valley was the aggressive team at this point, putting a shot wide to make it 23-22 but LV senior Morgan Clark (13 kills) made it game point with a kill.

The Pride's Lian Bernett (21 kills) closed it to 24-23 with a kill but Bennett again tricked the Pride defense by placing the ball into an open spot in the middle of the defense rather than setting one of her attackers.

Heritage went up quickly in game two and was leading 15-9 and 19-13 but Valley rallied and tied the score at 20-20. This time the Pride took the upperhand, taking advantage of a service error and then Bernett placed a kill around the Valley block and the Vikes went wide on the attack to make it 23-20 Heritage.

Bennett scored on yet another dump set but when she tried it again, Emma Le Maitre read it and was there with the block. Valley got one more point but the Pride tied it at one game apiece as Bernett tooled the Valley block.

Valley went up early in game three, 10-4, but Heritage fought back to tie at 12-12 the match stayed tight all the way to 25 and beyond. It was tied at 23-23 when Heritage got to within game point on a Bridget Thompson kill. Valley tied it up with Clark burning the line for a kill.

The Vikes were up 25-24 after a tip around the Heritage block but Le Maitre had another big-time block to make it 25-25. Needing to win by two points, Bennett scored again of misdirection on a set but Le Maitre killed to tie it 26-26. Finally, Valley found a two-point run with a rally ending when a Pride freeball went deep beyond the back line and then Heritage's offense had a rare misfire to end the match, 28-26.

The fourth game of the night had the most separation as Heritage was up 20-14 and 24-19 but Valley fought with three straight points to force a Pride time out. Skye Young was clutch out of the time out with a kill to send the match into a fifth game.

In the fifth, the two teams took turns getting ahead. Heritage was up 7-5 after a Le Maitre ace when Valley reeled off three straight points with Clark ripping a kill with major velocity.

Heritage then scored three straight, to retake the lead, 10-8, as Young and Bernett were strong at the net.

Valley came right back an this time it was four straight points with Brittany Brown serving for three of them. Phipps timed a free ball attempt at the net and pulverized it, making it, 12-10, Valley.

The see-saw trend, however, continued and so it was time for Heritage to claw back, with Bernett tooling the block, Young winning a battle at the net and a good serve by Bernett making it 13-12 Pride.

Valley had the final solution, a three-point run with, fittingly, all of the Vikes key players showing their talent. Bernett started the final rally by dropping a free back, with her back to the net, that perfectly dove onto the floor before Heritage could get to it. With libero Kristin Martin, serving, Clark finished a rally with a soft tip over the Pride block and the night ended with more drama, Phipps blocking at the net, running an attack that was picked up and finally she picked off a stray Heritage pass and slammed it down for the winner.

Please check back for video highlights of the end of game five and also a photo gallery!

Heritage Stats
Beckwith-41 digs
Bernett-21 kills, 2 blocks, 10 digs, 3 pts
Montanez- 2 kills, 3 digs
Le Maitre- 9 kills, 2 blocks, 23 digs
Thompson-9 kills, 1 block
Yokoyama-46 assists, 16 digs
Young-6 kills, 4 blocks

Loudoun Valley Stats
phipps 10 kills
maddox 5 kills
clark 13 kills
bennett 4 kills
bennett 105 sets and 51 assists
martin 40 digs
clark 25 digs
maddox 20 digs
brown 19 digs
phipps 8 blocks and 3 assists
malsch 4 blocks and 2 assists