Stories

Goochland volleyball cruises into state final

Photo by Bart Isley
Video

 

 

That. Was. Dominant.

 

Goochland’s volleyball team’s performance to close out it’s 3-0 sweep of Glenvar High in the Group 2A state semifinals was a tremendous combination of great work at the service line and a series of well-timed blocking. It showed just how much momentum the Bulldogs have built as they head into the state final Saturday in Richmond.

 

“We’re all just talking and we all get along,” said Goochland defensive specialist Casey Spencer. “We’re just like one big family. Whenever we mistakes we don’t bring each other down, we just bring each other back up.”

 

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-15 victory in game one, then followed that with a 25-20 win in game two. The onslaught continued in game three as the Bulldogs leapt out to an 8-1 lead and closed it out 25-12 behind a loud, fired up home crowd in Goochland.

 

Spencer and Faith Gerdes each had strong service runs during that game three and Gerdes finished with six aces on the night on just 22 attempts from the line. Spencer and Josie Summitt, meanwhile, took Glenvar out of system with their serves regularly in an efficient outing.

 

“It’s just rhythm — I feel like every time I go I just have to do the same thing over and over again,” Spencer said.

 

In fact, it was a largely error-free performance — the Bulldogs committed just four service errors on the night.

 

“I told them before the match, during their warmup I kind of picked out who their weaker passers were and I said this is who we need to take it to,” said Goochland coach Jennifer Erixon. “I’ve never in the season told them where to serve or who to serve because I feel like as a varsity player they should be focused enough to know where to go. They took it to them… (I’m) so happy with our service game.”

 

The blocking in that final game came largely from Madelyn Ott, the Region 2A East player of the year, who finished with six blocks in the win. Alexis Wiggins and Maddie Parker also got in on the mix with two blocks each. Ott pointed to the Bulldogs’ preparation as the reason for the front-line’s impressive finish to the match.

 

“We definitely saw it better, yesterday at practice we worked a lot on blocking and definitely worked on adjusting to a left-handed hitter, making sure we got our right hand on the ball,” Ott said.

 

Ott finished with 11 kills to lead the Bulldogs while Parker had eight kills, Alexis Wiggins posted six kills and Maddie Goff had five kills. Goochland kept finding ways to hit around a challenging Glenvar block, and with Spencer notching nine digs while Gerdes had eight digs, the hitters got plenty of chances. Summitt finished with 35 assists and tossed in six digs for good measure, distributing to Wiggins, Parker and Ott nearly equally (the trio had 21, 20 and 22 attacks respectively) to keep Glenvar off balance.

 

Now the Bulldogs will look to keep the run going as they face off against Marion, who swept Stuarts Draft in the other state semifinal Tuesday. The two region champions will face off for the state title at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Siegel Center.

 

“I’ve never seen such focus and just drive — the wanting to win,” Erixon said. “They don’t let things get to them. It was so good. They didn’t let the pressure get to them or anything.”

Comments

comments