Anytime you run away with a playoff opener and you’re starving for more, you’re in good shape. Nelson County volleyball coach Vicki Crawford dropped her clip board on the floor after a missed serve in the middle of her team’s Dogwood District quarterfinal matchup with seventh seeded Appomattox. Her expectations for this team are awfully high, not because she was at the helm of a Governors team that won the Group A Division 1 title in 2010, but because she sees so much of that team in this squad, despite a complete turnover in the roster.
No set was in question on Wednesday night in Lovingston, but after a 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-10) win over the Raiders, it’s clear that Nelson is hungry heading into the semifinals.
“I’m really pushing this group because I don’t think they quite realize the potential they have,” Crawford said. “So I feel bad sometimes like I’m being hateful, consistently pushing them but I think they can peak some point here (in the postseason).”
The Govenors saw the Raiders give their best shot early in the first set with the game in Nelson’s favor at 6-5. From there though the Govenors ripped off a 6-0 run and held that up to 20-14 before closing out a 1-0 advantage.
“The post season means so much, it’s what you’ve worked for the entire season,” said Nelson senior Emily Stotmeister. “We need to take it to the next level. In order to do that we need to play the teams already at that level and succeed. I think we could work on our passing and dominating our hits.”
The second set was Nelson’s strongest. With the Governors front line dominating, they ran out to a 10-2 lead and then inflated it to 15-4. It did not take much for Nelson to finish up game two and the momentum swung over into the third and final set.
Nelson went up 9-3 to start game three and continued to roll to a 19-8 lead. An 8-2 run to finish gave the Governors the 3-0 lead and send them into the second round confident, but still look for more.
“We have great hitters and I don’t think we quite showed off tonight, but (Stotmeister, Ebony Crawford and Alexis Murphy) are all capable of pulverizing the ball and it’s just great when they do,” Crawford said. “To have that many hitters against a block, (Lydia Fitzgerald) has so many options to go against any block. So I like that. We depended on Ashley Wells so much last year that now it’s so different. I think as team we’re better now because we have more all around. We need on target passing for our setter where it’s not behind the 10-foot line and we have those options.”
Stotmeister finished with a game high 13 kills and four aces. Murphy added nine kills. The setter, Fitzgerald, poured in 32 assists.
The Governors (16-3) host Dan River on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the DWD semifinals.
