In the Northwest Region quarterfinals held on Tuedsay, the Ablemarle volleyball team was able to advance past Heritage In four games despite a tough day at the service line. But on the next day, Patriots coach Mark Ragland addressed the situation in practice and his team was much improved in that department during its semifinal victory over Osbourn Park on Thursday.
Unfortunately for Albemarle, that same service issue reared its ugly head in the finals against Loudoun Valley, and this time the Patriots weren’t able to overcome it Saturday afternoon as the Vikings narrowly escaped with a 3-2 win, 25-22, 14-25, 29-27, 15-25, 15-13.
“If we serve, we win,” said Ragland. “It’s that simple. (Loudon’s) a good team but they didn’t fight their way back into the match. We served our way out of it. That just kills you.”
It’s hard to argue with Ragland as in the two games that the Patriots were most successful in serving, they wound up winning by a significant number of points — 11 points in game two, and 10 points in game four.
The Patriots jumped out to eight point lead midway through the first game. However, the Vikings won 14 of the next 19 points to storm back and draw first blood.
Albemarle rebounded in game two to set up a pivotal third game, the closest of the whole match. The Patriots and Vikings went back and forth with neither team ever leading by more than three points. Late in the game Albemarle was able to tie the score up and force two match points, but couldn’t close the door on either. After facing a 2-1 deficit for the second time in the game, Loudoun strung together two straight points and put themselves up 2-1.
“This is a senior dominated team,” said Vikings coach Laird Johnson. “We’ve had to comeback in a number of matches through out these tournaments and that helped in today’s match. We were down a couple times at Colonial Forge and Forest Park and it gave us an opportunity to build a little confidence as a team.”
Game four was almost a carbon copy of game two, and game five closely resembled game three. The Patriots went up midway through the match by three points but Loudoun quickly tied the game up, and the two squads traded points until the Vikings were able to win three of the game’s four final points.
Despite some miscues, Albemarle was outstanding on defense throughout the game as they held strong against a Loudoun team that had a considerable size advantage, and Ragland was pleased with the way his team went after the ball in that department.
“Our hustle on defense was outstanding,” Ragland said. “ We played hard and overall I was very satisfied with the match. I just wish we hadn’t given it to them on those serves.”
For the Patriots, Hannah Lawson led all players with 22 kills. Junior Megan Napolitano recorded 10 kills for the third straight game. Abby Hendrix recorded 35 assists. Stephanie Strauss had seven kills and four blocks. Katie Weatherly had four kills and contributed five blocks.
Morgan Clark had 17 kills for the Vikings. Nicole Bennett had 31 assists and Kristen Martin had 19 digs.
The good news for Albemarle is that they had already earned a bid — their second straight — in the Group AAA tournament on Thursday. The Patriots will travel to either South County or Langley on Tuesday at a time to be determined in the state quaterfinals.
