Volleyball: Can You Dig It!?! Loudoun Sends 4 Teams to States!

(Nov. 11, 2011) - Last year Loudoun County won a third straight VHSL state girls volleyball title and Loudoun Valley captured the AAA state title. This year, Loudoun continus to cement its reputation as the hottest volleyball spot in Virginia as a record four teams have qualified for the 2010 state tournament.

Loudoun County is back seeking a fourth straight state title after beating Kettle Run, 3-1, Thursday in the Region II semifinals. The Raiders will face Dulles District foe Freedom next, which qualified for its first ever state volleyball tournament with a 3-1 win over district rival Broad Run. The two teams meet Saturday at 7 p.m. in Leesburg for the regional title.

In AAA, Stone Bridge returns to the state tournament for the first time since 2005 with a sweep over Robinson in the Northern Region semifinals. The Bulldogs had fallen in the semifinals the previous three years. They face Hayfield on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the regional final at Centreville High School.

And also in AAA, Heritage qualified for the state tournament with a lightning quick sweep over Patrick Henry-Roanoke in the Northwest Region semifinals. The Pride will host Osbourn Park Saturday at 6 p.m for the regional title.

VivaLoudoun Volleyball Playoff Scoreboard
Region II
Loudoun County def. Kettle Run, 25-19, 25-27, 25-13, 25-12
The Skinny: Loudoun County fought off a hard charging Kettle Run team to move on to the Region II Finals Saturday night versus Freedom (a 3-1 winner over Broad Run). With the 25-19, 25-27, 25-13, 25-12 victory, the Lady Raiders punch their ticket into the VHSL AA State Quarterfinal next Tuesday.

Leading the Raiders to victory were Jenna Strange (13 kills, 11 digs, 5 points, 4 blocks, 2 aces), Katrina Kirby (9 kills, 8 blocks, 2 digs, 1 assist), Maggie Phillips (8 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs), Taylor Huewe (7 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig), Sammy Dormio (7 kills, 7 digs, 8 points, 1 assist), Rachel Harrison (3 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs), Colleen Bowlds (27 assists, 14 digs, 11 points, 1 ace), Jordan Leiter (16 assists, 9 points, 8 digs, 6 aces), Gabby Serafin (17 digs, 9 points, 1 kill, 1 ace), Kathleen Horvath (10 digs, 11 points, 1 assist, 1 ace, 1 kill).

Loudoun County will try to defeat Freedom on Saturday night at LCHS at 7:00 PM for the fourth time this season in the Region II Championship. The Raiders improve to 24-1 on the season and extended their match winning streak to 20 matches.

Freedom def. Broad Run, 23-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-12
The Skinny: For Freedom's two seniors, Tori Kramer and Jenna Flanigin, clinching a state tournament bid was almost out of the realm when they first started in a program that went entire seasons without winning a district contest.

"I can't even put it into words. It is unbelievable. I'm so happy right now! It is surreal, unreal," said Kramer after the team had knocked out Broad Run on the Spartans home court in front of a large and loud Freedom fan base that made the short trip from South Riding.

Flanigin thought that the Eagles comeback win on the road in the quarterfinals at Western Albemarle was a huge turning point for the team and led to a lot of confidence in Thursday's semifinal match, especially win the team dropped the first game.

"It hasn't sunk in yet but on the bus ... it's going to be crazy!," said Flanigin. "This is turning out to be the perfect senior year."

Despite dropping that first game, Freedom fought back from a deficit to tie 23-23 before falling 25-23 and kept that momentum going into game 2.

"We are sort of an odd team. We get better with each game we play in a match. So losing just 25-23 in the first, I felt confident. I didn't feel cocky confident but I felt good about it," said first-year coach Jim Clark.

It was the Spartans turn to comeback in game 2, down 18-8, BR fought to tie it at 23-23 but Freedom prevailed, 26-24, to tie with Maryam Kaymanesh and Kramer finishing the final kills.

In both games 4 and 5, Freedom jumped out to early leads. Broad Run closed to 21-19 and 23-21 in game 4 but couldn't catch up with Flanigin supplying a big block that won a key point. In game 5, the Spartans simply couldn't get back into the flow of the contest and it was all Eagles.

With their student section -- the Black Hole -- on their feet and cheering, the match was clinched and the Eagles, with big smiles, went jumping for joy. Now they have a shot at Loudoun County on Saturday, a team they have managed to take a game from in two of three losses.

Northern Region
Stone Bridge def. Robinson, 25-13, 25-14, 25-15
The Skinny: For the second time this season, Stone Bridge simply rolled past the Rams and this time it clinched the school's first state tournament bid since 2005.

For the Bulldogs:
Christine Beckham 8 kills, 5 digs, 5 service pts, 2 aces
Amanda Miller 25 assists, 2 blcoks, 2 kills, 3 digs, 4 service pts, 1 ace
Amy Christensen 13 digs, 4 service pts
Alex Heyn 8 kills, 5 blocks
Ryan Ackermann 9 kills, 4 digs, 11 service pts, 1 ace
Mariah Brantley 7 digs, 13 pts, 1 ace

The Bulldogs will face Hayfield in the regional final Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Centreville High School.

Hayfield def. Langley, 22-25, 27-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-9

Northweest Region
Heritage def. Patrick Henry, 25-20, 25-10, 25-15
The Skinny: After a first match that was even to 11-11 when the Pride went on a 6-point run, it appeared that the Patriots, off a long road trip from Roanoke, would make a match of it but Heritage kept the run going and going and Patrick Henry never got back in the match. The Pride's big block especially frustrated the Patriot hitters.

For the Pride:
Bernett- 7 kills, 4 assisted blocks, 5 points, 10 digs
Busa- 9 kills, 2 assisted blocks, 7 points, 2 aces, 1 dig
Fowler- 4 kills, 8 points, 1 ace
Hrebenach- 5 kills, 3 solo blocks, 1 assisted block, 9 points, 3 aces
Kamis- 7 kills, 5 points, 2 aces, 4 digs
Le Maitre- 19 digs
Runyan-2 digs
Yokoyama- 1 solo block, 12 points, 1 ace, 29 assists, 6 digs

Heritage now hosts Osbourn Park, a team they beat earlier this year, in the Northwest Regional finals at 6 p.m. Saturday in Leesburg.

Osbourn Park def. Colonial Forge, 25-27 25-14, 24-7, 25-20