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Goochland cruises past Nandua in region quarters

Great teams are always finding ways to get better with each game and thanks to some innovative ideas from coach Jennifer Erixon, the Goochland girls volleyball team is doing just that.

 

The Bulldogs kept their unbeaten record intact on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win over visiting Nandua to advance to the 2A East semifinals.

 

Goochland (23-0), which hasn’t lost a set all season, didn’t play its best volleyball on Saturday as it beat Amelia to capture the Conference 34 title, according to Erixon.

 

So, the Bulldogs went back to basics, focusing on practice.

 

“I broke down a lot of things in practice. We have these things called block-its, that you put on the net where it basically simulates a block and it makes them have to go and read,” Erixon explained. “We played some funny games with them and had music going really loud just to get them trained to be loud. So I had a whole new approach to practice, and it worked. Their mentality was so much better tonight — it was a no-nonsense, we’re coming out to play. It was very, very nice to watch that. It was a huge improvement over Saturday.”

 

That mentality, combined with a dominant service game, propelled the Bulldogs in their quarterfinal win.

 

Sophomore Kealie Lachniet led the way, as she registered 17 service points, including a game-high four aces. Madelyn Ott added a pair of aces to go along with 10 kills and three blocks. The senior hitter has been a force at the net all year and will be continuing her volleyball career at Georgia State.

 

After taking the first two sets 25-12 and 25-14, respectively, Goochland cruised in the final set, using just three servers en route to the 25-6 win.

 

“We were so aggressive on our serves. We were serving short, we were serving deep. One of my biggest philosophies is if we control the serve, we control the game and that’s exactly what they did tonight,” Erixon said. “They’re just in control of it. We only missed two or three serves all night. It’s one of those things where when your serve is on and you serve aggressively, you’re good.”

 

Faith Gerdes added three kills and three digs, while senior setter Josie Summitt tallied 24 assists.

 

Goochland will visit RE Lee, the Conference 36 champion, on Thursday in the region semifinals. RE Lee, a winner over Clarke County in the quarterfinals, knocked Goochland out of the tournament two years ago and the Bulldogs are hopeful they can avenge that loss with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

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