There’s been something slightly different about Western Albemarle in its second tour around its Jefferson District foes. The Warriors nearly fell to Powhatan at home, and saw Fluvanna County put up a valiant fight, also in Crozet. But the next five JD contests have been swift. Since those two bouts weeks ago, Western’s been on a rampage. And facing Fluvanna County with an unblemished district record on the line, the Warriors were as poised as they could have been, taking down the Flucos 3-0, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18 en route to the regular season championship and thus, a Region II berth.
“I think we played the way we expected to play with good ball control and taking advantage of our opportunities when they were there and a few mismatches we thought were in our favor,” said Western coach Ron Pack. “Fluvanna has a great team. Our matches with them are always well played and hard fought. (Coach Christie Harlowe-Garrett) has done a great job with that program and always has her team well prepared to play good volleyball against us. They have a squad of fine players and of course have a dominant player in Hannah Miller.”
But the story the night belonged to Western’s front line, both its starters and its substitutions. Behind Maggie Kooken, Maggie Spindel and Laura Bergin, the Warriors showed great balance. Middle hitter Devon Via was critical on the block and Ali Sandridge came off the bench to provide even more offense.
“We don’t have major numbers for any one player, we’ve got balance,” Pack said. “Ali came off the bench and gave us a lot of offense. She’s smaller so it was a gamble because that could have hurt us against the block, but I thought she could generate something for us and it turns out she did.”
In all three matches, the Flucos were able to keep things close early, but the second half of each set saw the Warriors build at least a comfortable lead and hold on and offer little wiggle room. In the first game, it was a 3-point lead at 12-9, and it stayed that way up to 22-19. But three straight points gave Western the 1-0 lead, something it didn’t have in the first match with Fluvanna.
“I think we were just a lot more comfortable,” Bergin said. “We’ve improved a lot over the season. I think we’re just playing better as a team. Our teamwork is better. I think our passing is getting more consistent and so too is our hitting. We’re hitting our spots a lot more now.”
The second set started out strong with Western taking an 8-3 lead, but the Flucos charged back to get to within a point at 15-14. Three straight points for the Warriors gave them that familiar 4-point lead heading into the home stretch and the Flucos were unable to mount a second run to try and knot things up at 1-1.
The third set was close up to 9-8. Again though, Western thrived behind its depth to take a 19-13 advantage. Fluvanna got as close as 3-points at 20-17, but Western never let it get any closer as they shut the door to preserve a 3-0 sweep.
“We came out ready (each set) but we just didn’t maintain it going through,” Harlowe-Garrett said.
Bergin led Western with nine kills, but had Kooken close behind with seven and Spindel and Sandridge at six a piece. Via added four more kills. Lauren Reifsteck had 27 assists to go with two blocks. Marina Clarke had 20 digs.
For the Flucos, Miller led the way with her 15 kills. Emily Haden had six kills with Maddie Kline finishing with five. Katie Stutz led the passing attack with 22 assists.
Both Western and Fluvanna have byes heading into the Jefferson District tournament, automatically putting them in the semifinals. If the Warriors win their semifinal, a win for the Flucos would give them the district’s second and final Region II bid.
“We just have to focus on the fundamentals, passing more consistently, serving more consistently,” Harlowe-Garrett said. ““A regional berth would be nice, but we’ll just have to face whoever we face and Western will have to do the same and we’ll just see how it turns out.”
The JD semifinals will be on Tuesday hosted by Powhatan.
