For a pair of programs that have been the area’s elite for well over a decade, there aren’t too many five game classic matches between Western Albemarle and Albemarle. While the two have a great tradition of going back and forth between wins, the tradition of one rolling by the other continued on Thursday night with the Patriots sweeping the visiting Warriors 3-0, 25-16, 25-14, 25-13.
“It didn’t feel quick to me,” said Albemarle coach Mark Ragland. “There were times where we looked pretty good, but I also thought there were times where they looked good, especially early on. I think it was one of those things where we clawed and kept momentum on our side of the court there. Hannah Deal came through with some critical serves and I thought our net play was strong too.”
The while the first two sets saw Western stay close with newest member of the Jefferson District, when Albemarle pulled away, already up a game in a 10-10 tie in the second, the writing was the on the wall. Behind an 8-0 run the Patriots were able to ride that momentum to a convincing second set victory and carry it over to a 5-0 lead in the third and final game.
Western was able to get to within four points at 7-4 in the third set, but from there, the Patriots put together an 8-2 run to go up by 17-9 before finishing out the match.
“The bottom line was that they played better volleyball than we did,” said Warriors coach Ron Pack. “They were more athletic and we couldn’t stop the runs. We had some runs where the passing wasn’t there and they would get fix or six points and dig a hole. We couldn’t recover from that.”
In the first set Albemarle went up 4-0 but saw the lead slim down to 6-4 where it stayed close up to 18-15. But as was the theme, the Patriots had a run in them to take the game 25-16 with a 7-1 run.
“We worked on staying up the whole match because we knew coming into the season there were going to be a lot of local rivalries,” said Albemarle senior hitter Sarah Woods. “We know we have to come into each match very intense. When we got down we felt like that’s where they caught up. So we had to push ourselves and do what we know how to do.”
On the the night for Albemarle, Lexi Brown had 7 kills and two blocks. Woods finished with eight kills and two blocks. Chelsea Woodfolk added six kills. Libero Taylor Bauman had seven digs. Ellie Benning had 13 service points, three aces and 24 assists. As for Deal who had an especially good day serving, she went off with 17 service points and seven aces.
For Western, Ali Sandrige had six kills and seven digs. Courtney Berry had six kills. Abi Wagner had six assists while Erin Farina had five helpers as well.
The Warriors drop to 1-3 while Albemarle improves to 6-1. Both will be in action again with Albemarle hosting a showcase tournament on Saturday at 10 a.m. where both teams are slated to play at least four matches against regional standouts.
