The two regular season meetings between Powhatan and Fluvanna County were battles, and in the Jefferson District semifinals with a Region II bid on the line, this third and final meeting between the second-seeded Indians and third-seeded Flucos did not disappoint, particularly to start. But after falling early in the match, Powhatan was able to regroup against scrappy Fluvanna to take the final sets of the night to advance to face Western Albemarle in the Jefferson District championship, topping Fluvanna 3-1, (26-28, 25-11, 25-20, 25-16).
“We are excited about the chance to move on,” said Powhatan assistant coach Sarah Altizer as head coach Clark Menger declined to comment. “Expectations for this team have been to reach the state tournament all along, so we’ll see if we can do that after playing Western on Thursday.”
The first and third sets of the semifinal provided the most excitement for both groups of fans in attendance at Monticello. Powhatan started the match with a 7-0 lead in game one, but saw Fluvanna race back with an 8-2 run to make it close. It stayed close for the rest of the way with the Flucos finally tying the game at 15-15 and setting up the first of a handful of set points at 24-21. The Indians took the next three points to tie the game at 24, and then earned a set point of their own at 26-25, but Fluvanna won the last three points of game one to take a 1-0 lead.
“It’s hard to lose to a team (twice during the regular season) and know that you can still beat them,” said Flucos coach Christi Harlowe-Garrett. “When we started reacting to the ball instead of responding to what was going on, things didn’t go our way.”
After the intermission, Powhatan centered itself and blew by Fluvanna in game two. With the game tied at 6, Ebony Scott and Janey Goodman went on a tear both in front of the net and at the service line to put together a 10-0 run followed by a game clinching 9-5 finish.
Tied at 1-1 going into game three, Powhatan looked poised to cruise again. The Indians were up 11-9 before going on a 5-0 run to take a seven point lead. Trailing 22-15, Fluvanna cut the deficit to four points, but could not hold off Powhatan at the end and fell into a 2-1 hole.
Fourth and final set was similar to the second with the Indians establishing a lead by seven thanks to Siera Strathy and the rest of Powhatan’s tall front line players. That 7-point lead stayed in tact for most of the game with the Indians going up 18-11. The window was not wide enough for the Flucos to force a comeback, and Powhatan finished things up by taking seven of the last 13 points to claim victory.
“We didn’t not have a stellar passing night,” Harlowe-Garrett said. “We kept putting the ball on the net and with trees on the other side, you just can’t do that and expect that you’re not going to eat a few of those.”
On the night, Scott had seven kills and three blocks for Powhatan. Goodman had nine kills, two blocks and five digs. Krystal Marshall had 28 assists. Sami Pearce had seven digs.
For the Flucos, Hannah Miller, who was honored as the JD player of the year before the match began, finished with a team best 17 kills and three blocks. Taylor Beck had 11 kills. Senior Sammi Toy had 30 assists in her final high school volleyball game.
Powhatan will face Western on Thursday at Monticello at 7:30 p.m. for the JD championship. The Warriors won both regular season meetings against the Indians.
