After nearly three decades at the head of the Albemarle volleyball bench, Mark Ragland admits that all of those many seasons run together in his mind at this point.
While Ragland has achieved a life time’ worth of special moments on the court, the 29-year veteran has especially fond memories of his 1999 and 2000 teams.
On Tuesday night, in the middle of the Patriots’ match against Fluvanna, Ragland and the AHS volleyball family had an opportunity to honor some of the program’s all-time greats. Members of some of Ragland’s most successful teams watched closely as the 2016 Pats aimed to climb to .500 on the season.
It was not a vintage performance from a Ragland-coached team, but the Patriots showed resolve, rallying from deficits in the first two sets to take the match 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20).
Katie Schnell led the Patriots in kills with 14 for the contest. Emory Hawkins had a big night as well, chipping in 10 kills, three blocks, and three aces.
Senior Amanda Harris led Fluvanna with seven kills in the losing effort.
After dropping the third set, Albemarle came out swinging in the fourth game. A block by Gabriella De Gennaro, jump-started a 6-0 AHS run. The Patriots then milked a comfortable lead throughout most of the set, even stretching it 10 points following a quick 5-1 surge.
With the finish line in sight however, Albemarle had a difficult time closing out the visitors. Fluvanna took advantage of several AHS miscues, and slowly chipped away at the seemingly-insurmountable deficit. Trailing 20-10 at one point, Fluvanna pulled to within three at 21-18, before Albemarle’s Danielle Larosa quieted the run with an emphatic kill.
Though it was far from smooth sailing, the Patriots eventually closed out the Flucos 25-20 to clinch the match.
“We had some contributions [in the final set] and I was proud of a few kids for stepping up at different times,” said Ragland. “We’re stepping up and then we’re backing off. It’s eliminating those curves in our game that are important right now. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.”
The fourth set was a bit of a role reversal for the Patriots from the first two games. Fluvanna opened the first and second sets with small leads, and remained the aggressor in the early goings. In the second game, the Flucos notched six of the first seven points, thanks in part to the play of Harris.
Albemarle trailed for the entire set, until Fluvanna began to make a number of uncharacteristic errors. The Patriots capitalized on their opponents’ misfortunes, and took their only their second lead of the match at 19-18, following a 5-1 run.
Once Albemarle grabbed the lead for the final time, the visitors would rarely be heard from again, allowing the Patriots to double their lead in the match.
AHS almost fought back from a similar deficit in the third set. After watching Albemarle earn the first two points of the game, the Flucos seized the momentum, and never fell behind again. Trailing 21-16, the Pats closed the gap to just one point, but the home team could not overcome several blunders, and dropped their only set of the evening.
With all of the mistakes on both sides, it was difficult for any team to truly capture and hold on to the momentum throughout the match, but Ragland is proud of the way that his team competed throughout.
“I think what happened is that both teams gave each other a lot of unforced errors,” Ragland noted. “Some of it was a run on Fluvanna’s part where they gave us a few easy points and that helped us, but you still have to step up and play. I was proud of a few moments that I saw in those sets. I think we all saw moments for our team that we can be very proud of, but its just the consistency that we’re looking for.”
