With a regular season title in tow already, Madison County began its Bull Run District tournament eager to move ahead quickly to Saturday. The Mountaineers made quick work of Manassas Park in a 3-0, 25-11, 25-11, 25-16 win where they worked in the bench and moved starters like senior libero Jessica Schmitt to the play up front. In all it was both a win and an effort to fine tune for worst case scenarios ahead.
“It’s a little hard in the quarterfinals because it’s a slow pace,” said Mountaineers coach Lindsay Von Herbulis. “I didn’t think we got play at our speed, but everyone got to play and a lot of people got to play at different positions so they could move around so that we know if someone gets hurt or sick we know who to call on. I did like our spot serving, but we missed on our jump serves. A good night overall.”
It took barely an hour for Madison to start and finish the match with a 5-5 tie in the third set being the height of drama for the evening. The Mountaineers started by taking an 8-4 lead in the first set and getting a more comfortable 17-10 lead. Finishing on an 8-1 run, the Mountaineers took a quick 1-0 advantage.
“We knew it would kind of be an easy game but still didn’t want to underestimate them,” said junior hitter Chandler Gentry. “So we did the best we could, but it still probably could have been better. We just have to be prepared now for Saturday against the bigger teams.”
The second set saw Madison roll to a 7-0 beginning. The Cougars never got closer than within five points of the lead from there and that allowed Von Herbulis to start moving around her players to different roles and bring in substitutions from the bench.
Little changed in the third as while the game was tied at 5-5, an 8-2 run from there for the Mountaineers gave them the only lead the needed to finish up the night as they closed by winning 20 of the last 26 points.
Gentry led the Mountaineers attack with nine kills despite sitting most of the third set. Cassity Lacy added six kills. Sheridan Santinga had five kills. Logan Coates and Emily Shifflett split setting duty and each totaled 10 assists. Kaitlin Ayolor contributed five aces. Abby Bowman led the defense with five digs.
Madison (17-4) will host its semifinal on Saturday at 3 p.m. and if victorious, play again in their own gym at 7 p.m. in the championship game. The Mountaineers have already secured a Region B bid that will also give them a home game in the first round next week.
