Volleyball: Loudoun Valley Sweeps Into AAA State Playoffs

Purcellville (Nov. 13, 2009) - Loudoun Valley High School volleyball coach Laird Johnson knows that a playoff match isn't over until the final point is scored so he was on his feet down the stretch Thursday night urging the Viking fans to make some noise as his team attempted to sweep Forest Park.

The crowd responded, as did his team, and the Vikes speedy 58-minute 25-10, 25-23, 25-18 win in the Northwest Region semifinals propelled Valley into the AAA state playoffs and into a "high noon" showdown in the regional finals at Albemarle -- a rematch from last season when Albemarle rallied in Purcellville to steal the regional title from LV.

"It was a fast match," said Johnson. "It seemed like we just sat down and it was the third game. We are playing at a high level right now."

The Vikes had a 14-game winning streak in the finals of the Cedar Run tournament to Heritage and that may have been a boost to LV's state playoff run.

"We realized that we can be beat," said Johnson. "The girls rededicated themselves to the goals we had set at the beginning of the season."

Valley's gameplan Thursday was to keep Forest Park's two big hitters out of the flow with a good service game and it worked almost to perfection as the Bruins were scrambling most of the night to get the ball to their setter.

Forest Park had beaten LV earlier in the year but the Vikes were not at full strength as setter Nicole Bennett was recovering from an ankle injury and when she was healthy the team went from a 6-2 to a 5-1 offense. The result is a 16-1 mark since, including a win on the road at Albemarle, which was missing a key player in that match.

Loudoun Valley seniors Kristen Martin, Lindsey Phipps, Morgan Clark and Nicole Bennett