Brittney Wagner wasn’t replacing just anyone. Wagner, a senior reserve outside hitter, was replacing one of the area’s best, Sarah Harper, who came down with a bug early in the week. Wagner was up to the task.
Wagner buried eight kills and a made a host of key plays for the Warriors in a 3-0 victory for Western Albemarle over Fauquier in the Region II quarterfinals.
“We’ve talked all season about what incredible depth we have on this team and what incredible consistency we have,” said Western coach Lance Rogers. “We can change our lineup and not do tremendous damage to our firepower and our ball control.”
Western, the region’s No. 1 seed, advances to take on Sherando, who swept Broad Run Thursday night, in a showdown for a state tournament berth.
Wagner finished with eight kills, but that only told half the story.
“She kept a lot of balls in play, she was serve/receive and her passes were on the money, she was digging balls — just an incredible, gutsy performance,” Rogers said.
Wagner’s play all over the court helped lift the Warriors, who were concerned that without Harper in the starting lineup — she later entered the match despite running a high temperature on Monday — things might get interesting. Not with the savvy senior filling the gap. Wagner closed out game two with a clutch kill, a time Harper often carries the load.
“Brittney just really stepped it up and we were all so impressed and proud of her,” said junior Ana Asher.
Asher and Chastity Lacy opened things up for Western and, in turn, Wagner. Fauquier struggled to block the Warriors’ middles and overplayed to the outsides, leaving a clear lane in the middle of the court that Asher and Lacy dominated. Each middle had 10 kills a piece in the win, with Asher in particular setting the tone early with four kills in the opening game.
“For some reason they slid to the left and the right and only covered the corners,” Asher said. “So I just hit right down the middle every single time because it was open. I talked to the setters…there’s this one play and I was like we have to run this one play the whole entire time and they didn’t put a block on me. ”
Asher came up with several direct kills outside the set offense, knocking down balls just as they crossed the net on hits from Faquier.
Western also got a balanced performance from its two setters, with Riley Martin checking in with 16 assists and Megan Adams posting 15. Elizabeth Via, who finished with 14 digs at the libero spot, also had a key ace late in the second game that helped break open the match for the Warriors.
Western will host Sherando at 7 p.m. Thursday.
