Click on photo gallery icon for archived photos by Alysia Deem of Valley vs. Langley and Fauquier photos courtesy of Falcon Sports


By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor

Haymarket (Oct. 26, 2008) - AAA Cedar Run District regular-season champion Loudoun Valley High School moved a step closer to adding the tournament title to its resume with a semifinal sweep Thursday night over host Battlefield, 25-16, 25-19 and 25- 21.

The Vikings (20-2) will now face Fauquier in the tournament title match Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Battlefield. Both teams will move onto the Northwest Region tournament regardless of Tuesday's outcome. Earlier this season, Fauquier (18-4) handed Valley's its only Cedar Run loss on the year. Valley's other loss came in non-district to Northern Region power Langley. The Falcons four losses came to Valley, Battlefield, Stonewall Jackson and Albemarle. The Falcons and Vikings have played five sets in both their matches in 2008 so Tuesday's final should be a great match.

On Thursday teh Vikings were able to control the pace and tempo against the Bobcats in games one and two moving out to early leads in both games.

The Bobcats regained some of the matches momentum in game three keeping the scored tied early and eventually developing a three point lead in the middle of the game. However, timely serving by the Vikings and passing errors by the Bobcats allowed the Vikings to gain control of the 3rd game and close out the match.

Ally Blaine (18 assists) and Nicole Bennett (9 assist) ran an effective and varied offense allowing the Vikings top hitters Morgan Clark (15 kills) and Lindsey Phipps (8 kills) to control the offensive net. Taylor Maddox had the 'hot hand' on the service line earning her 14 service points.

Kristen Martin (28 digs) again anchored a stingy defense that stymied the Bobcats all evening. Lindsey Phipps was tough along the net on defense as well earning 8 blocking combos for the match.