The Western Albemarle volleyball team doesn’t give up games easily, and the Jefferson District front runner fought off Monticello to continue that trend by beating Monticello on the road 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-18).
“The biggest thing we’ve been focusing on lately is minimizing the errors and we’ve been efficient at that,” said Warriors coach Jenna McFaddin. “We’ve switched up the offense a bit as of late and it’s really worked well. Everyone’s just doing great.”
Western faced it toughest test of the match in the third set as Monticello rallied with the defending JD champs point-for-point through 15-15. The Mustangs’ defense did their best job defensively trying to match up against a balanced Warriors offense.
“I think we just had a hard time with our mental focus,” said Mustangs coach John Mitchem. “With a team like Western, you can’t take plays off and so they went on runs. We didn’t start the match well, but we did finish much better.”
Western went on a 7-0 run to take solid lead and ensured the 3-0 sweep by keeping Monticello at bay to close out the match.
The Warriors rolled in the first game they built up an early 7-point lead and never let the home team within five to get the 1-0 lead.
Game two started out with a solid battle between the two with Western keeping a 2-point lead for the first half but pulling away soon there after with a 8-2 run. The Warriors left little open for Monticello from that point to make it 2-0.
“We came into this knowing it was going to be a good match because Monticello is great competition,” said Western hitter Peyton Brookins. “I think we came out ready to play though. We’ve got great coaching and really good chemistry on this team.”
Maggie Kooken led the Western attack with 11 kills. Laura Bergin and Katie Rossberg finished with nine and seven respective kills. Setter Riley Martin had 13 digs. Brookins added six kills. Western used both the depth of its starting six and its bench in all three games with success, something that’s kept opposing defenses on their heels.
“It’s nice because everyone on the team can hit this year,” McFaddin said. “We went to one hitter a lot last year and now we can go to anybody and they’ll hit it well for us.”
For Monticello, Charlotte Divine finished with seven kills and three aces to pace her team’s offense. Molly Relken had four kills. Brittanny Scott had three kills and a trio of aces. Mariah Williams had 15 assists and seven digs. Tristam Carr also had seven digs.
Western hosts Powhatan on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for its senior night. A win there secures the regular season championship.
Monticello travels to Fluvanna County also on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
