Monticello was there in each of the three sets, especially in the first and third. But despite the Mustangs’ efforts, Western Albemarle’s volleyball team was simply able to close Tuesday night.
Western earned its sweep of Monticello in their Jefferson District home debut, winning 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 27-25).
“Each game was close and then each time we’d finally get that run,” said Western coach Ron Pack. “Monticello’s got a good squad and one of the most athletic they’ve had since I’ve been here. We had to earn our points tonight. They blocked a lot of our shots, not necessarily for points but they just kept getting their hands on our swings. But it was fun to be at home and a win is a win and we’ll take it. Hopefully we crank it up from here on out, but we’re definitely happy with the result tonight.”
All three sets were close for the first half, and in the first the two teams were locked up at 14-14. But a 5-0 run from Western gave the Warriors the cushion they needed as they tried to work around the height of Monticello’s front line. Western’s offense found a way and took a 1-0 lead by not giving up any runs the Mustangs way.
“A lot depended on our defense tonight, depended on the pass,” said Warriors senior Kelsey Grove. “If it was perfect we could set in the middle and if it wasn’t then we’d go outside. We just had to get it in and play smart and not be afraid to swing. That’s what we tried to do. They put up a big block. You try and read it, see if there’s a hole. We got a lot of help with our teammates in the back calling it out to us.”
In the second set, once again it was close early, this time with both squads locked up at 10-10. But at 15-13, the Warriors took off once again and also capitalized on unforced errors by the Mustangs to quickly make it 20-14. A 5-3 finish allowed Western to take a decidedly difficult 2-0 advantage.
“I think we were all down a bit early there and then we talked about how we knew that we didn’t want to play four games,” said Western senior Colleen Forsman, who was a pest all night defensively. “So we had to make a push (in game two), the serving helped a lot and then we just got pumped.”
The third and final set was the closest, but didn’t look all too different from the first until the end. After the game was knotted up at 7-7, the Warriors rallied off three straight points to take the lead before going up 20-15. It was a battle from there though, with Monticello making an 8-3 run to tie things up at 23-23. The Mustangs battled through three different match points, but in the end, couldn’t get out in front as Western’s offense — which got hot at the end with Grove doing the work — sealed up the win with a 27-25 triumph.
“I think (closing) is actually one of the things we can really improve on,” said Monticello coach Jackie Hargis. “I think we’re there with so many teams in terms of talent, it’s just putting that heart and soul into the last points at the end of sets is what we have to focus on for the rest of the season. Some communication errors didn’t help, but I think fundamentally we’re pretty strong, we just have to keep working on that.”
On the night, Grove led all players with not only 14 kills but also 12 digs.
Courtney Derry threw in six kills. Seinna Kellem had five kills while Olivia Nichols led all players with five blocks. Elissa Simpson had 20 assists while Erin Farina had 10. Hannah Miles had 10 digs with Colleen Forsman throwing in eight of her own.
For Monticello, Allie Perez has 23 assists, four aces and three kills. Perez sits just two assists shy now of breaking the Mustangs’ all-time assists mark. Both Moneka Lawson and Ashli Spruill finished with six kills. Amaya Gibson led the Mustangs with seven digs. Zimako Chuks and Summer Larese both had a trio of kills.
Western (6-0-2) next travels to Powhatan while Monticello (2-3) heads to Charlottesville.
