Posts
Viva Loudoun Editor
Leesburg (Oct. 2, 2012) – Loudoun County welcomed Stone Bridge Monday night in a dream match-up of two undefeated girls volleyball teams and the sizeable crowd that turned out was not disappointed as they were treated to an entertaining well-played five-set match captured by the AAA Bulldogs as they rallied from a 2-set deficit to beat the host AA Raiders.
Stone Bridge (14-0 overall) not only came back from the 2-set hole but trailed 6-1 in the fifth set before nipping Loudoun County (10-1) for the 18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13 win.
“I just aged 10 years,” joked Stone Bridge coach Jill Raschiatore after the match that pitted two of the top teams, not only in Loudoun, but in all of Virginia with Loudoun County having won four straight AA state title (2007-10) before falling in last year’s state semifinals and Stone Bridge having advanced to the AAA state Final Four the past two years.
The fifth set was a snapshot of the entire evening as Loudoun County, which came into the match having won 30 of 31 sets played, jumped out to a quick lead behind booming senior outside hitter Taylor Huewe (team-high 20 kills) but saw Stone Bridge scratch its way back into the match with senior outside hitter Ryan Ackermann (match-high 26 kills, 20 digs) catching fire with five straight kills and then a block to put the Bulldogs up 10-7.
“This is like our biggest match of the season, we were beyond excited before the game,” said Ackermann.
The key to the swing in the match was a line-up adjustment made midway through the evening and it put Bulldog senior Libby Haslett (20 kills) in position to play the hero as she had two early kills in the fifth set when Stone Bridge desperately needed to stop the Raiders from running away with the win and then she finished off the victory with two kills when the score was tied 13-13.
“We were really upset after losing the first two sets. We knew we didn’t want to walk out of here defeated,” said Haslett.
Raschiatore called Haslett the type of player that enjoys the pressure and that she “would rather be challenged.”
Haslett echoed that saying that pounding opponents in straight sets wins was fine but Monday’s atmosphere was “a lot more intense, a lot more fun.”
Both coaches, after a season of mostly easy 3-0 wins, were able to get a gut check on their squads.
“I told the team after the game that it wasn’t like I didn’t have faith in you before but I have so much more now,” said Rashciatore.
Defense was crucial in the contest with a pair of sparkling performances from the libero’s as Stone Bridge senior Sarah Fairchild had a whopping 42 digs and Loudoun County junior Kelsey Slack had 19.
“Fatigue set in, mental focus and Stone Bridge came out and made adjustments against our defense,” said Loudoun County coach Jenica Brown in response to the Raiders inability to close out the win. “I felt like we had control at times, but couldn’t keep control.”
Setters on both sides likely will have weary arms the rest of the week as Stone Bridge junior Cydney Gill set a school record with 69 assists and Loudoun County senior Megan Fox, an all-around threat, had 40 assists to go with 14 kills and four blocks.
Early in the match it appeared that Stone Bridge might have rolled down Route 7 to Loudoun County a little too hyped and the Raiders, behind the raucous Raider Riot student fan section and pounding drumline, were in control early.
“We psyched ourselves out, we had too much adrenaline,” said Ackermann.
Loudoun County jumped out to a 5-1 lead in set 1 and never looked back or trailed. Slack’s and junior setter Mandy Powers serving stretched a 7-6 lead to 13-7. Senior Quinn O’Connell had back-to-back kills to start the run and junior Maggie Phillips had a nice kill to end a long rally.
Showing off its depth during this stretch, O’Connell tooled the block for a point, Fox destroyed an errant Stone Bridge set and Phillips flattened an errant pass before junior Jane Feddersen’s big block brought the home crowd to its feet.
The serving of Stone Bridge senior Mariah Brantley, her jump serves defy gravity as they dip over the net and strafe the floor, and a well-time block by sophomore Shannon Williams got the Bulldogs jump-started in set 2 as they sprinted out to 7-2 advantage.
The Raiders patiently worked their way back into the match, tying it at 11, 12, 13, 15, 18 and 20 before finally going ahead on senior Rachel Roberts block followed by a kill. Roberts at 6-foot-2 was just one of the incredible tall Loudoun County line-up with six Raiders on the roster 6-0 or taller.
Fox was keeping SB’s defense off-balance with her knuckling serves and her winner made it 22-20. The teams traded errors before Ackermann smashed a crosscourt winner to make it 23-22 Raiders. Loudoun County then closed out the set with Phillips smartly using the SB block to her advantage and then O’Connell doing the same trick for a 2-0 Raiders lead.
The Bulldogs, determined to avoid a sweep, moved out ahead 7-2 in set 3 with Stone Bridge’s defense finally picking up some of the Raider attacks that in the first two sets were finding the floor. Gill had a strong service run during this crucial stretch.
The Raiders were able to come back and tie it 12-12 but Stone Bridge stormed back ahead, winning eight of the next nine points. Ackermann, with an uncanny ability to find the back line from any number of hitting angles, had four kills during the run which also featured a Brantley kill, two kills by Williams and an ace from Gill.
While Ackermann had the power to blast through the block at times, the Bulldogs other hitters (all in the 5-7 to 5-11 height range) made some nice adjustments to avoid the Raiders towering front line.
The good news for Stone Bridge was not only a 25-19 set 3 win to force a set 4 but the Bulldogs were looking like the defending back-to-back AAA Northern Region champions at this point.
For most of set 4 the two teams battled back and forth. Ackermann, Gill and junior Megan Ellis put together three kills to make it 7-4 only to have a couple of SB errors and Fox kill tie it up.
The next run came deeper into the set as Stone Bridge took advantage of two Raider errors and a powerful Brantley blast to make it 22-18. The Raiders stalled the momentum with a time out and out of it, scored four straight to tie it 22-22 with Fox nicking the back line for an ace and SB wilting a bit with three errors in the sequence.
The Bulldogs then used a time out to their advantage and came back to score three straight points to force a fifth set. Haslett provided the spark, scoring all three points as she came up with three straight clutch attacks in the middle.
Stone Bridge’s team was so excited at this point that the Bulldogs were on the court itching for the fifth set to start with more than 40 seconds left between sets and the Raiders, taking their time, collected themselves and jumped all over the Bulldogs for a big 6-1 advantages, especially in a rally-scoring format to 15.
Huewe and Roberts each came up with two kills during the hot start and Haslett was the only thing standing between Loudoun County and a total blitz. Her kill made it 6-2 LC and after a Raider error, Fairchild launched another Bulldog ace. Huewe’s kill off the block made it 7-4 Raiders and then Ackermann took over the match as Gill fed her on the outside and it didn’t matter what block the Raiders threw up, the Rider University recruit had the answer with five straight kills.
Even a Raiders time out with Stone Bridge now up 9-7 couldn’t stop the Stone Bridge train as Ackermann threw up a block and then Williams ripped off a kill to make it 11-7.
The Raiders showed their grit with a five point roll to reclaim the lead at 13-12.
Feddersen started things off and Phillips ended yet another tense rally with a score. Feddersen, making good use of a wrap-around set, beat the block and then Powers tricky serve baffled the Bulldog defense. Feddersen had yet another kills during the run with Slack getting full credit for her pancake dig to keep it alive.
A service error evened it up at 13-13 and then it was Haslett’s time to shine in the middle. A time out sandwiched between her clutch kills couldn’t take the win out of Stone Bridge’s sails as the Bulldogs and their fans celebrated the huge non-district win as the final point hit the floor.
Match Stats
Stone Bridge
Ryan Ackermann 26 kills, 1 block, 20 digs, 1 ace
Mariah Brantley 8 kills, 1 block, 27 digs, 3 aces
Megan Bryn 8 digs
Megan Ellis 2 kills, 3 digs
Sarah Fairchild 42 digs, 1 ace
Cydney Gill 69 assists, 11 digs, 3 aces
Libby Haslett 20 kills, 3 blocks
Shannon Williams 12 kills, 2 blocks, 4 digs
Loudoun County
Taylor Huewe 20 kills, 5 digs, 1 block
Megan Fox 40 assists, 8 kills, 14 service points, 6 digs, 4 blocks, 3 aces
Maggie Phillips 10 kills, 14 digs, 2 blocks, 2 service points, 1 assist
Rachel Roberts 9 kills, 6 blocks, 3 digs
Quinn O'Connell 9 kills, 1 block, 1 dig
Jane Feddersen 7 kills, 4 blocks, 13 service points, 6 digs, 1 ace
Mandy Powers 13 service points, 8 assists, 7 digs, 1 ace
Kelsey Slack 19 digs, 7 service points, 1 ace
Kelsey Anderson 7 digs, 1 ace, 1 service point
Emily Solis 4 digs
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment