Junior hitter Laura Bergin has connected much more cleanly on many other balls for Western Albemarle that ended with a point for the Warriors. In fact, she connected on 11 better ones Thursday night.
But on what became the final point for Western in a 3-0 (25-018, 25-18, 25-21) sweep of Fluvanna, Bergin got just enough. Just enough.
“It literally caught one knuckle and went over,” Bergin said. “They’re saying it was a kill but that was the lamest kill I’ve seen in my entire life.”
Assistant coach Ron Pack, who keeps statistics for Western, didn’t award a kill on the play, citing the rulebook’s take that the play didn’t qualify as an attack. But it mattered little as Bergin, Katie Rossberg and Maggie Kooken combined for 35 kills in an incredible balanced performance by the Warriors’ front line that made life tough on the Flucos.
Rossberg and Kooken each had 12 kills, while Bergin had 11. Contending with the Warriors’ multiple hitters is no easy task for any squad.
“They did come out pretty strong, better than we did against Powhatan we struggled a little bit against Powhatan,” said Western coach Jena McFaddin. “We ran our gameplan great.”
Not that Western had much more success controlling Fluvanna County’s Hannah Miller who finished with 11 kills despite the fact that most of the offense flows through the junior standout.
“We try and contain her, we don’t try and stop her, we just try and keep her kills down,” McFaddin said. “Because you can’t stop her, but I think our middles go up pretty well against her.”
Emily Haden gave Fluvanna another option with five total kills, but the Flucos were out of sync for long, critical stretches against the Warriors and Western capitalized. In the second game, one of those stretches came with the Warriors holding a three-point advantage at 19-16. The Warriors took control with a 4-0 run that all but knocked Fluvanna out.
“We lost our focus a little bit,” said Fluvanna coach Christi Harlowe-Garrett. “More than they did. It hurt us at key points.”
A similar run in the third game allowed Western to battle back from a 3-point deficit at 17-14 to take a 21-17 lead, with a Marin Crowder ace and a series of Fluvanna errors doing the bulk of the damage. A few points later, the tip of Bergin’s finger finished off the match. And kept Western alone at the top of the district standings with Powhatan at a single loss in second and Fluvanna in third with a pair of defeats.
Riley Martin piled up 35 assists in the match while Crowder had three aces and 20 digs. Kooken managed a dozen digs to go with her 12 kills.
Sammi Toy had 23 assists at setter for the Flucos while Miller had 11 digs in the victory.
