Volleyball: Heritage Sweeps Valley but Everybody is a Winner on Dig Pink Night

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Purcellville (Oct. 1, 2010) – Heritage High School may have swept Loudoun Valley Thursday night in a key AAA Cedar Run District volleyball match but everybody was a winner as the two teams joined forces for breast cancer awareness on the Dig Pink fundraiser game.

“We have done this for several years and we’ve raised quite a bit of money,” said Heritage coach Carmel Keilty after her team’s 25-18, 25-21, 25-21 win. “It is a great cause … when the families get into it and the fans get into it, I think that says an awful lot for what our kids are really trying to do.”


Both teams worse special pink uniforms and there was a bake sale as well as a raffle at the game held at Loudoun Valley.

“It s a great event for everybody and it brings the community out for a very worthy cause, breast cancer awareness,” said Loudoun Valley coach Laird Johnson. “It’s not just about playing volleyball sometimes, it’s about being able to show the girls there is a way they can give back.”

Heritage (2-0 in district, 8-1 overall) was too tall and too efficient at the net for Loudoun Valley (1-1, 6-3) on some crucial points. The host Vikings, AAA state champions last season but rebuilding after graduating almost all their starters, stayed even with the Pride two-thirds of the way through each of the three games before faltering.

“We saw tremendous progress in this match tonight. I thought they played up to Heritage’s level most of the night but then we came up with a fundamental error here or some unfortunate unforced errors … ln a big match like tonight those are the points that separate you,” said Johnson.

Heritage was led by senior Lian Bernett with 13 kills, 18 digs, two assists and six serving points. At times she was unstoppable from the outside. Bernett said she enjoyed playing in what has become an entertaining friendly rivalry.

“Some of the rallies we had tonight were fantastic,” said Bernett, who also gave an assist to the Pride student fan group. The Chaos Crew, which travelled to the match. “It helps us so much, we love the Chaos Crew.”

Heritage’s block was big with freshman Sydney Busa registering two blocks to go along with her two kills, two aces and five digs and junior Kelsey Hrebenach assisting on three blocks to go with one solo as well as six kills.

“The last week and half, the girls have really stepped it up in the blocking area,” said Keilty. “The block should be a powerful weapon for us and hopefully down the road that is what it will be.”

Junior Stephanie Yokoyama, benefitting from spot on passing, finished with 27 assists for Heritage and she had nine digs, one kill, one assisted block and two aces.

The Pride were also benefitted from the return of senior Emma LeMaitre (7 digs), who has been back a week but is limited to backrow action while recovering from a broken foot.

“She’s slowly coming back , but she still can’t do the jumping yet. She has given us a boost in the back row but all the kids are really stepping it up,” said Keilty.

Another freshman for Heritage, Madeline Fowler had a nice match with seven kills, eight digs and eight service points. Sophomore Dariel Montanez added six digs and junior Christina Kamis had several crucial kills and finished with seven total to go with five digs, one assist and one ace. Adding depth to the back row, senior Rachel Runyan had three digs and eight service points including two aces.

Valley was led by junior Abby McIntyre (8 kills) and senior Taylor Maddox (5 kills, 8 digs). Sophomore Kristin Caputo finished with seven digs and setters, senior Brittany Brown and sophomore Katelyn Hamilton, finished with 19 assists combined.

“Our girls are stepping up. They are learning the game and they are learning each other and they are starting to develop a good personality and a great chemistry,” said Johnson. “I think down the road we are going to be OK.”

Heritage and Valley will play two matches Saturday at Heritage with both teams facing Osbourn Park and Forest Park at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Next week, both teams have busy schedules with big matches as Heritage hosts Stone Bridge on Tuesday and Valley travels to Flint Hill on Thursday.

“I am so pumped up … I have been waiting for this day to happen,” said Hrebenach about the upcoming match against the Bulldogs.

Bernett agreed with her teammate: “We are so excited . Words can not describe how excited we are. We know so many people on that team, we are all really good friends, so it will be such a fun match.”