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Falcon middle hitter Chelsea Glowacki uses finesse and power to drive this Jenny Better set into the hardwood. Better record 42 assists in just 75 points and Glowacki had the team-high in kills.
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By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager

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Cliches are not well-received in professional sports lexicon.

That means no "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."

No "David-and-Goliath upset win."

But what happens when the Chihuahua picks fights with the pit bull -- and wins?

Or when David bullies Goliath for just the fun of it?

With student population soon to be under 1,000, Poolesville continued its meteoric rise towards a fifth region title in seven seasons with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-10 win at two-time defending 3A West region champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase on Thursday.

The 1A Falcons are 10-0 and have not dropped a game in any of their victories. In every one of those matches, they have faced schools with significantly larger enrollments.

"I think they like that," said coach Fran Duvall of Poolesville, the only school in Montgomery County with a declining population. "I think it motivates them. We very rarely get coverage. We're kind of hidden up there. And people see them, they're like... 'Where did those kids come from?'

"They really do work really hard and there's a lot of pride, a lot of pride. They kind of feed themselves with that. I don't have to do a lot of motivating. They do it on their own."

Added senior setter Jenny Better: "They look at '1A' and they don't see big power. They just see a little school with a few kids. We work hard for each other and it definitely pays off."

Under-sized and under-manned, Poolesville places blockers on tables at practice to simulate the distinct height advantages of its scheduled teams.

Leading the recent charge, appropriately, has been the 5-feet, 4-inch Better. Two matches ago, she had 40 assists in a 25-11, 25-18, 25-11 win at Gaithersburg (7-3).

And Thursday night, Better was, well, better.

She recorded 42 assists in only 75 possible points at Bethesda-Chevy Chase (13-3).

"We're very, very fortunate to have Jenny in the middle," said Duvall, a former coach at B-CC. "She's a little dynamo, but she's very disciplined. She works her butt off as you can tell, she's just everywhere. She's really worked so hard at learning the game."

Added Better: "I have to give it all to my passers. I can't get that high of a number without my passers. If they didn't keep it off the ground, where would I put the ball? I have to give all my credit to them."

And that's not to forget her hitters. Better has the pick of litter, able to lay it off to outside hitters Celi Blanc and Megan Kenneweg or middle hitters Jessica Chittenden and Chelsea Glowacki.

Nightly, the quartet records nearly 40 kills, and Glowacki had the team-high on Thursday.

"I had a lot of adrenaline," she said. "I was shaking during time outs. But I couldn't do it without my girl, Jenny, and her 42 assists."

But regular-season success is nothing to new to Poolesville. It won the 1A South region four straight years from 2002-05.

Yet three state final appearances and one semifinal berth failed to yield a state title.

And the question remains: When -- or if -- the Falcons drop a game to quality opposition, how will they respond?

"We do a lot of [those scenarios] in practice, but yes, I am concerned," Duvall said. "You can't recreate that. You either have to deal with it or you don't deal with it... I always say to them, 'Going undefeated should never be a goal in the regular season. Go undefeated in the playoffs. That should be your goal.'

"I think these kids are pretty focused, though. I have seven seniors that keep saying to me they don't have a next year."


E-mail: pmurphy@digitalsports.com