Albemarle volleyball is headed back to the Region 5A North tournament, winning a 3-2 battle with Atlee on the road in the Conference 16 semifinals to get there.
A year after Atlee swept Albemarle in the Conference 16 championship match, this year’s edition of the Patriots fought tooth and nail to extend their season, continuing a late season upswing that saw Albemarle take Western to five games and beat Powhatan soundly.
Things looked to be headed down the same path as 2015 when Atlee won game one 25-21, but the Patriots bounced back and won 25-17 in game two, thanks in part to an early 9-2 run to open the game that included two Madison Warlick kills.
Albemarle then won game three to grab a 2-1 advantage, and that’s when Atlee woke up, blasting Albemarle 25-15 in game four, setting up the decisive game five.
Albemarle went down 3-2 out of the gate, rallied to take a 6-4 lead and then slid back into a 7-7 tie. A Gabbi DeGennaro block pushed Albemarle back ahead 9-7, then she struck again with a kill to move the match to 12-8, then closed the door with a kill to make it 15-11.
Warlick led the Patriots with 12 kills but it was balance that got the job done for Albemarle up front as DeGennaro finished with 10 kills, Katie Schnell had nine, Danielle DeLaRosa had eight and Emery Hawkins finished with seven kills. DeGennaro also posted six blocks while LaRosa and Schnell had three blocks each.
Warlick was also a defensive force with 15 digs and Bridget Pinnata had 12. Sarah Hanssen triggered the multi-faceted offensive attac with 46 assists.
The Patriots head south now for the Conference 16 championship where they’ll face Patrick Henry-Roanoke.
