Volleyball: Dulles Semifinals and Cedar Run, Liberty Finals Highlight the Schedule

(Nov. 5, 2009) - There are two district tournament titles on the line tonight and three teams have their season on the line in volleyball action.

In the AA Dulles District, upstart Freedom takes on top seed Loudoun County at 6 p.m. as the Eagles (11-10) advance to the semifinals for the first time in school history. If  the Raiders (19-2) prevail then the second semifinal between Broad Run (15-6) and Briar Woods (13-7) will be played with a Region II tournament bid on the line for the winner with the loser ending its season.

"The Eagles won their first ever district tournament match by maintaining constant pressure on the opponents," reported Freedom coach Dave Tsuda. "Tonight every Eagle player made valuable and timely contributions to tonight's performance via an exceptional defense of digs and blocks, consistent serves, accurate passing, or best ever show of spikes and down-the-line shots."

In the AAA Cedar Run District it is the third meeting of the year between volleyball rivals Heritage and Loudoun Valley with the Pride (14-7) travelling to Purcellville for a 7 p.m. title match. The regular-season champion Vikes (17-4) swept the two-game series thus far. Both teams advance to the Northwest Region tournament next week but only one will earn a banner tonight.

In the AAA Liberty District host Stone Bride (20-2) will play for the district title at 7 p.m. tonight against Langley. A win would earn the Bulldogs a top seed in next week's Northern Region tournament. Both teams advance regardless of tonight's outcome.




Heritage def. Battlefield


Heritage clinched a AAA Northwest Region bid in its first season since moving up from AA with a 26-16, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19 victory over Battlefield Tuesday in Leesburg.

Junior Lian Bernett led the Pride with 19 kills and 15 digs. Senior Libero Megan Beckwith had 29 digs and sophomore setter Stephanie Yokoyama had 42 assists and 12 digs. Also for Heritage, junior Emma LeMaitre notched seven kills and had nine digs, senior Skye Young had five kills and two blocks and freshman Dariel Montanez had six kills.

In the pivotal third game of the match the Pride jumped out to a 15-10 lead. After BF pulled to within, 16-12, the Pride went on a 4-point run punctuated by a Bernett kill. The Bobcats then made things very interesting as they clawed all the way back to 22-21.

Heritage coach Carmel Keilty called time out and out of the break, Bernett painted the back corner with a kill for a much-need Pride point. On the next rally, Young and Montanez put up a big block to make it 24-21.

After Battlefield got a point back, Heritage ended the game and went up 2-1 with Young scoring the winner from the middle. The Pride then cruised in the fourth game to wrap up the victory.

"Moving up to AAA we had the same goals we have every year," said Keilty.

Stone Bridge def. Fairfax

The Bulldogs have quietly improved to 20-2 on the season and won 14 straight matches into tonight's Liberty District finals after beating Fairfax on Tuesday, 25-14, 25-5, 25-23.

Leading the Bulldogs:
Christine Beckham 12 kills, 8 pts, 5 digs
Amanda Miller 39 assists, 9 pts, 2 aces, 2 blocks
Lindsay Gill 14 digs, 7 pts, 2 aces
Alex Heyn 3 kills, 3 blocks
Alexis Chism 11 kills, 2 blocks, 5 pts, 2 aces
Ryan Ackermann 13 kills, 6 pts, 2 blocks
Amy Christensen 8 pts, 1 ace, 6 digs