Volleyball: Stone Bridge Sweeps into AAA State Finals

Richmond (Nov. 19, 2010) - The Stone Bridge High School girls volleyball team is one match away from clean sweeping through the VHSL AAA state tournament as the Bulldogs swept to yet another win Thursday -- Stone Bridge's fifth straight 3-0 win in the postseason -- to advance to Saturday's title game against Kellam at 7 p.m. at VCU's Siegel Center.

The Bulldogs 25-22, 30-28, 25-18 win over Atlee Thursday puts Stone Bridge into unchartered waters as they advance to the state finals for the first time. It is not, however, unusual for a Loudoun team to advance as Loudoun Valley won the AAA state title last year and Loudoun County plays tonight in the AA semifinals in a bid for a fourth straight state title.

Simply put ... Loudoun=volleyball.

Stats for Stone Bridge Thursday:
Christine Beckham 10 kills, 10 digs, 3 blocks, 3 service pts
Amanda Miller 32 assists, 7 digs, 9 service pts, 3 aces, 4 blocks
Amy Christensen 15 digs, 1 service pt
Ryan Ackermann 12 kills, 1 block, 8 digs, 11 service pts, 3 aces
Alex Heyn 7 kills, 4 blocks, 1 dig
Vanessa Paige 4 kills, 2 digs
Mariah Brantley 4 digs, 11 service pts
Chandni Chudasama 8 service pts, 1 ace, 3 digs
Haley McClure 2 blocks, 2 digs

Sure you could read Matt Brooks account of this match in the Washington Post but VivaLoudoun had its special Stone Bridge volleyball fan taking notes on the match ... we like to call her "Sideout Suzy" (not her real name ... duh) ... Here is what she saw at the Siegel Center Thursday including a great account of the epic second game or set:

1st set
· Atlee led early, went back and forth to 10-6 Atlee.
· Amanda Miller served it up to catch up 11-11.
· Stone Bridge fell behind again always trailing by one or two points to 20-19 Atlee.
· Chandni Chudasama served to get Stone Bridge up 21-20 when Atlee calls time out.
· Turning point for Stone Bridge (wake-up call) at 22-22 with a big kill from Christine Beckham to bring it to 23-22 and Christine serves the rest of the set with Ryan Ackermann with a great kill to win 25-22.

2nd set
· Stone Bridge comes out ahead 9-5 forcing Atlee to take the first time out.
· Atlee trails by 3 to 4 points the rest of the match.
· Then it got interesting, Amy Christensen serves an ace making it 24-21 Stone Bridge.
· Stone Bridge hits it into the net (don’t know who) to 24-22.
· Longest rally of the game with Atlee winning the point 24-23.
· Ace by Atlee (HUGE server, got lots of aces throughout the match) 24-24.
· Next play, 2 big blocks and a huge hit by Stone Bridge 25-24.
· Atlee with a big kill making it 25-25.
· Alex Heyn comes up with a big hit in the middle 26-25 but Atlee comes right back with a kill 26-26.
· Stone Bridge blocks a hit but ball bounces out (Atlee 27-26).
· Christine Beckham makes a great hit to tie it at 27-27.
· Chandni Chudasama comes up to serve and Atlee gets called for a carry (Stone Bridge 28-27).
· Next rally you can hear a pin drop as everyone holds their breath, again a great rally ending with Atlee tipping it over Stone Bridge blockers 28-28.
· Stone Bridge wins the next point 29-28 and Amanda Miller comes up to serve.
· Amanda Miller with an ACE to win 30-28.

3rd set
· Atlee opens with a service error, Stone Bridge 1-0.
· Mariah Brantley serves to 5-1 with Alex Heyn getting 2 huge blocks during that time.
· Atlee loses their serve and Ryan Ackermann takes it to 7-1 timeout Atlee.
· Ryan Ackermann with an ace at 9-1.
· Atlee serves at 9-2 and Stone Bridge gets it back when Alex Heyn blocks making it 10-2.
· With Stone Bridge leading 13-9, Atlee tips it over making it 13-10.
· Atlee, their big server AGAIN, gets 3 aces in a row to tie it 13-13 before Stone Bridge gets their serve back at 14-13.
· After that, it was all Stone Bridge.
· Ryan Ackermann serves at 17-14.
· At 20-14, Alex Heyn and Amanda Miller had a huge double block forcing Atlee to a timeout.
· At 21-14, Amy Christensen gets a nice back row kill.
· At 22-14, Ryan Ackermann gets an Ace.
· Atlee gets their serve back at 22-15 but Alex Heyn comes up with a great kill.
· Atlee looked like they were coming back again when they got their serve back at 23-16.
· Atlee with an ace 23-17.
· Atlee with a great block 23-18.
· But then Atlee gets a service error to 24-18.
· Once again Amanda Miller serves an ace to 25-18.

Thanks Sideout Suzy! Now if we can get a Loudoun County fan to provide a blow-by-blow report from tonight's semifinal we will be set!

Stone Bridge Volleyball (28-1)
Match-by-Match 2010
W - 8.31 - Loudoun Valley - 3-0
W - 9.1 - Yorktown - 3-0
W - 9.7 - Herndon 3-0
L - 9.11 - Loudoun County 2-3
W - 9.11 - Sherando 3-1
W - 9.11 - Kettle Run 3-0
W - 9.13 - Robinson 3-0
W - 9.15 - South Lakes 3-0
W - 9.21 - Marshall 3-0
W - 9.23 - Fairfax 3-1
W - 9.27 - Broad Run 3-0
W 9.29 McLean 3-0
W 10.4 Centreville 3-0
W 10.5 Heritage 3-0
W 10.12 Westfield 3-1
W 10.14 TJ 3-0
W 10.19 Chantilly 3-0
W 10.20 Freedom 3-0
W 10.26 Madison 3-0
W 10.28 Langley 3-2
*W 11.1 Marshall 3-0
*W 11.2 TJ 3-0
*W 11.4 Langley 3-1
**W 11.8 Herndon 3-1
**W11.9 South County 3-0
**W 11.11 Robinson 3-0
**W 11.13 Hayfield 3-0
***W11.16 Princess Anne 3-0
***W 11.18 Atlee 3-0

*Liberty District tournament
**Northern Region tournament
***AAA state tournament