By Alysia Deem
LoudounPrepSports.com Multimedia Content Editor
and
By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor
Leesburg (Nov. 12, 2008) - For the third consecutive year the Loudoun County High School girls volleyball team is headed to VCU and the AA state "Final Four" and each year has truly been a different experience for the Raiders.
In 2006 it was a suprising squad that came together midyear and rolled all the way to a state runner-up finish. Last year it was an undefeated County team that had so much talent that the playoffs amounted to a victory tour until a thrilling five-set win over Grafton to win the state title. And this year, it is a gritty LC team, with a target on their backs, fighting through a littany of injuries, to make it to Friday's 1 p.m. semifinals against Chancellor with a hard-fought win over Jamestown Tuesday, 17-25, 25-15, 25-23, 26-24.
"It's going to be a blood and guts match," LC coach Jenica Matthias said about Friday's semifinal with Chancellor, a team that swept Western Albemarle Tuesday and a team the Raiders defeated last year in the state quarterfinals. "We know what to expect."
The Raiders (26-1) survival depended on another truly team effort with a capital "T" as LC fought off the powerful play of Jamestown's Krista Hughes (28 kills) with a balanced attack that featured five players with five or more kills including Shaylin O'Connell (10 kills, 4 blocks, 2 digs), Emily Vandegrift (9 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks), Rochelle Latka (9 kills, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 digs), Katie Gloe (6 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks) and Juliane Hanna (5 kills, 6 digs, 8 points).
"We have to move the ball around," said Matthias about her team's offensive strategy.
Perhaps the poster girl for the Raiders is senior Rochelle Latka. The veteran plays outside hitter but can also set and on Friday the 5-foot-7 Latka came through big, especially coming out of a timeout after Jamestown had fought off four match points to tie it 24-24 in game four. Latka sent a crosscourt shot that nicked the line in front of the Jamestown bench. And while the Eagles were still simmering about that ball being out, the Raiders were back to setting Latka again and this time she sent a ball down the line and maybe just wide. While it appeared that the ball actually just skinned off the Jamestown block, no touch was signaled, but the line judge pointed his flag to rule the ball in and the celebration was on for the Raiders as they wrapped up 54th win in 55 games.
"“I thought we played well enough to win tonight,” said Jamestown coach Tom Stephenson. “(We) played with a lot of heart. I thought (we) were the better team, but the better team doesn’t always win. The last two calls were clearly out … usually you can overcome calls but not when they come at 24-24.”
Latka also qualifies for Raider "poster girl" as she not only had the final two key shots but she was hobbling out of the gym on crutches with a ice bag tapped to her leg. Just another Raider playing through pain as LC is without sophomore starter Rachel Arigo and senior Katie Martin, who adds depth at the setter position, and the 6-foot-1 William & Mary bound O'Connell is playing through shin splints.
"It would be better if everybody is healthy," said Matthias, who really likes her team's chances against any teams if everybody was on the court, but she will play the hand dealt with just four days left in the season.
The Raiders advance because the supporting cast, the crew that makes those first two touches before the kills, backrow defenders and the setters, got better and better Tuesday after a shaky start. Senior Kerry Sarver (16 assists, 12 points, 8 digs) and junior Robin Marsala (15 assists, 7 digs, 2 kills) split the setting duties and Kathleen Horvath (14 digs, 10 points, 2 assists) and Hannah Arnold (10 digs, 8 points) combined for 24 digs as they played a cat and mouse game with the Eagle hitters, adjusting as the evening went out and they became more familiar with an unfamiliar foe.
"In a way in got easier as the game went on," said Horvath, a sophomore, who just started playing volleyball in the 7th grade and was an 8th grader when LC started this 3-year run.
While the Raiders have not lost at home since Sept. 25, 2006, there was a stretch Tuesday where the Raider Riot student section and the rest of the home fans had to wonder if this would be the night as Jamestown sprinted out to a 14-4 lead and cruised to a 25-17 victory in game one. Part of it was a case of an unfamiliar officiating crew and maybe some jitters as the Raiders were whistled for three rotation violations in a 7-point span.
"The first game was a little rough," Horvath said. The Raiders came out focused in game. two. "We focused our team game. Everything was clicking as a unit."
While Jamestown (25-2) relied on Hughes and senior Cory Harris (13 kills), the Raiders countered with a variety approach, with kills coming from all angles, all speeds and all players. Vandegrift, who can dink it as well as smash it, Sarver, with a baffling serve, Hanna with a well-timed kill, Marsala with a floor-buffing ace, Gloe with an all-around game and a good kill, and O'Connell, who can take a stray dig and tatoo it back to the defender, all contributed as the Raiders extended a lead to 13-7. LC would never give that lead up and finished with a 25-15 win to tie it at 1-1.
In the final three games, the Raiders had eight players with either kills or aces. In the final two games, either team could have won, but it was LC programming the GPS for Richmond once again, thanks to some clutch play.
In game three, Jamestown had a 19-14 advantage when LC went on a six-point roll with Arnold serving. A service error, a problem Jamestown had off and on in the match, started the rally and Arnold's back-to-back aces ignited it. The Eagles were called for a lift violation during the run and Vandegrift poached an errant set and then LC won a long rally that featured a fantastic Horvath dig and Marsala dumped a set into the middle of a tiring Jamestown defense for the point and a 20-19 Raider lead.
Jamestown came back with kills by Hughes and Harris but LC countered with Hanna and a Sarver serve that resulted in another Jamestown violation. The Eagles inched back ahead 23-22 with Hughes, who not only had a blast of an attack but had great court vision and was able to place kills into openings in the LC defense, getting a kill and LC with an ill-timed setting error. Jamestown needed just two points to take a 2-1 lead but LC siezed the game and match with Vandegrift on a kill to tie it and then Hanna had the defensive play of the night for LC. With Hughes attacking from the front row and back row, Hanna timed a Hughes backrow attack in the middle and slammed the ball down for a 24-23 lead. On the play, it was Latka coming up big again, with a kill to make it 2-1 LC.
The Eagles appeared as if they might wilt after letting the lead in game three slip away, falling behind 17-9 in the next game but Jamestown fought back with Hughes collecting nine more kills in the game. With LC at match point, Hughes was set again and again and again and again ... until it was tied at 24-24 and Matthias called timeout. Latka followed with her "line act" and it was on to Richmond once again for the Raiders.
AAA: Loudoun Valley fell to Landstown in straight sets, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21. Landstown will meet Westfield in the semifinals. In the other semifinal Thursday, Chantilly will face surprising Albemarle, a team that rallied on the road to defeat Valley in the regional finals Saturday, in the semifinals. Albemarle defeated Cox, 25-21, 18-25, 25-16, 25-16. Morgan Clark led Valley with six kills and Nicole Bennett had 12 service points.