The Vikings and Raiders quickly warm up after over an hour delay.
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By Paul Frommelt
Prince William Content Manager

The Loudoun Valley volleyball team was all set to take on Stonewall Jackson at their scheduled 7 p.m. contest on Thursday night. The only problem was that the Raiders were nowhere to be found. The Vikings' freshman and junior varsity teams were on the court, playing with their teammates and coaches well after their scheduled 6 p.m. start time.

All three Raiders squads were missing in action.

A wrong turn had sent the Raiders' in the wrong direction of the Purcellville school and as the bus — and the players within — worked to get back on track, the Vikings patiently waited.

"The big problem was trying to keep them focused," said Loudoun Valley head coach Laird Johnson. "It wasn’t necessarily keeping them warm, the girls are going to do the things that any kids are going to do – they are going to play and they are going to run around."

When the game finally got underway, a little after 8 p.m., the Vikings took care of business, sweeping the Raiders in three matches, 25-21, 25-18, 25-17, making sure everybody got home at a reasonable hour.

"Something like this could have a negative effect on some teams, these girls came out really focused and they had a lot of adrenalines in the first game and they used it to their advantage," said Johnson.

The Raiders, to their credit after an abnormally long bus ride, kept things close with the Vikings, but the combined offensive attack of Valley's Morgan Clark and Lindsey Phipps assured the Vikings' their fifth-consecutive Cedar Run District win.

"We are a very competitive team and we like challenges," said Clark after the game.

Note: You can send statistics from Thursday night's game to pfrommelt@digitalsports.com