After a while, it starts to feel like every single year. It even gets hard to count.
“This has stumped us what, the past three years, two years?,” said Goochland Madelyn Ott. “I have never been on varsity and made it past this game.”
Now she has.
“This is such a huge milestone for us,” Ott said. “I’m so excited, I can’t believe it.”
Goochland beat R.E. Lee 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23, 25-15) Thursday night in the Region 2A East semifinals, winning the match in almost the exact same fashion that Riverheads dispatched them in the same round in 2014.
Ott and Alexis Wiggins powered the Warriors on the front line, with Ott notching 19 kills with just two hitting errors on the entire night. Wiggins, just a sophomore was nearly as good, with 14 kills and just three errors. Those efficient performances put the pressure on Lee to play close to perfect, and Lee did manage to even the match in game two before the squads entered a critical game three.
The match seemed poised to turn on that game, and the teams were deadlocked at 16-16. Then Lee took control with a 20-17 advantage before the Bulldogs took a timeout. Then Goochland went on an 8-3 run to close it out and grab a 2-1 lead in the match, putting them firmly in control. The impressive play in that stretch was par for the course for a team that, while they’ve largely rolled through their regular season slate, seems to respond well under pressure.
“We actually were very relaxed,” said Goochland coach Jennifer Erixon. “I don’t want to say it’s an over confident thing by any means, it’s just we know what we can do and what we’re capable of. They’re just athletes.”
Setter Josie Summitt kept the offense flowing in game four as Goochland cruised in what became the final frame, winning 25-15 after opening up a 10-5 lead out of the gate. With Lee going pretty aggressively after blocks to try and even the match, Goochland took advantage and knocked home dump kill after dump kill, catching Lee out of position a number of times.
Summitt finished with 48 assists in the win. The Bulldogs got a strong team effort on defense with Ott leading the block with three on the night while the digs were spread throughout the squad. Kealie Lachniet and Faith Gerdes led the Bulldogs with eight digs each while Summitt had seven and Ott and Casey Spencer notched six each.
Now the Bulldogs have more volleyball to play with a region final against Stuarts Draft Saturday and a state semifinal game after that. For a four-year contributor like Summitt, just having that chance at this stage is pretty special.
“I’m beyond ecstatic right now,” Summitt said. “We’ve been working for this for four years and this is the first year that we’ve gone this far. This is amazing.”
