Video
Setter Ellie Benning and the rest of Albemarle volleyball’s captains could sense something was up during game two of the Patriots’ cross-county rivalry match with Western Albemarle.
“The captains told everyone they just need to take a deep breath–’you’re playing with nerves, you just have play your game, calm down and do your thing,’” Benning said.
The Patriots rebounded from that lull and reeled off a two straight wins in games three and four to take the match from the Warriors 3-1 for a crucial early season Jefferson District victory.
“If they play with heart and enthusiasm it makes life so much easier for them,” said Albemarle coach Mark Ragland. “Any time you’re in a match where it’s tooth and nail and all of the sudden you hit some adversity you haven’t seen before, it’s hard to stay positive. I thought they came back, but that’s one of the things we want to work on is maintaining that intensity, enthusiasm and confidence.”
They had that enthusiasm going in game one and capped that 25-23 win with a Sarah Hanssen ace. Western’s Kelsey Grove got going in game two though as part of a tremendous all-around performance in the match as she registered 19 kills and 13 digs to lead the Warriors in both categories. While Albemarle tried to spread their attack a little more, Western went to Grove repeatedly and it paid off with the 19 kills and just six hitting errors on a whopping 44 attacks.
“I don’t blame them, I would feed her all the time too,” Ragland said.
Western coach Ron Pack for his part, thought maybe a few more times might have helped his Warriors out.
“I wish we’d gone to her even more,” Pack said.
The Warriors missed Sienna Kellum, who injured her ankle in a recent tournament. Losing Kellum up front created some problems for Western against Albemarle’s multi-pronged front-line.
“We don’t always have the overpowering kids, but we’ve got a lot of players who do a great job,” Ragland said. “Once we got the passing down, the offense started to flow a little bit.”
Despite that barrage from Grove, Albemarle bounced back from the game two stumble and won game three 25-15, countering Grove with Stephanie Lugus who had 19 of her own kills on the night. The Patriots then capped the match with a 25-21 game four win finished off by an Emery Hawkins kill.
Lugus also had three blocks to go with her 19 kills, while Alexis Duday finished with 11 kills and a block. Hawkins had six kills and a block and Katie Schnell finished with two blocks.
Benning finished with a season-high 37 assists and also chipped in seven digs. Cindy Yu led the Patriots in digs with 17 and had a pair of aces. Katie Smith’s 13 service points led Albemarle.
Colleen Forsman finished with nine digs for the Warriors and Erin Farina and Adriana Bland had eight digs each. Olivia Nichols had seven kills and four blocks. Farina rang up 35 assists as the setter and also chipped in a pair of blocks. Courtney Berry finished with seven kills and three aces. Hannah Miles’ seven digs rounded out the Warriors’ leaders.
