by Pat O'Malley
patomalleysports@aol.com
Wilde Lake High had a flicker of hope to upset DigitalSports' No. 3 Centennial in the Howard County volleyball championship game Tuesday night, but that hope "flickered'' away, literally, as the host and unbeaten Eagles swept the No. 10 Wildecats for a third time this season.
Centennial (15-0) won its 14th Howard County title and first since 2005 by scores of 26-24, 25-8 and 25-19 in a match where the gymnasium's lights flickered off and on an average of every five to six minutes. Thank goodness, no one was hurt when the gym went dark for 10 or more seconds.
A host of times the ball was in the air going from one side of the net to the other. Dead silence often accompanied the darkness and sighs of relief would follow. It was lights out on the Wildecats (11-4) who have now lost nine consecutive games in the trio of matches they have dropped to the Eagles.
"Each time it has gotten progressively more difficult,'' said Centennial's second-year head coach, Larry Schofield. "They're a good team and it's tough to beat a good team three times and we may have to try and do it one more time if the seeds hold true, we could meet them again on Wednesday [Nov. 5]. Beating a good team four times, the odds increase in their favor, but our girls are focused.''
Schofield was referring to the upcoming the Class 3A state East Regional tournament that begins Halloween Friday with first-rounders followed by the quarterfinals on Monday and the semifinals on Wednesday. As the top seed in the region that includes DigitalSports' No. 2 ranked Fallston, which drew the second seed, Centennial has a first-round bye and will host either Long Reach or Howard Monday.
A quarterfinal victory by Centennial gives the Eagles a home game in the 3A East on Wednesday. That opponent will likely be the fourtd seed in Wilde Lake. The Wildecats have to get by Bel Air Friday and the Annapolis-North Harford winner on Monday to get another shot at Centennial.
"We've got our first two goals down and have two to go,'' said Schofield referring to an undefeated regular season and county championship to be followed by regional and state titles.
The first game Tuesday evening was Wilde Lake's best shot at ending their drought against the Eagles, but despite 15 ties, the last at 24 and three kills each by Shana Nelson and Megan Riesz, the Wildecats could not breakthrough.
Sophomore Samantha Brostrom, who led the victors with 14 of their 42 kills, delivered three straight kills to give the Eagles a 24-21 lead after the game was tied at 21 on a Centennial error. Wilde Lake would tie it at 24 on a tap-kill by Jan Duncan and a couple of errors before senior Kristin Anderson placed one of her six kills in an open area for a 25-24 Eagle lead followed by a return error for the 26th point.
"In practice we work our butts off on hitting and our middles (Hall and Anderson) are phenomenal," said Brostrom. "Sarah Hall rarely let anything come over on our side. She was just putting every ball away because she was fired up and wanted it.''
Centennial ran away with game two as junior Sarah Hall asserted herself at the net. Hall had two of her seven kills to go with a couple blocks as the Eagles raced out 15-4 before a kill by Elizabeth Brown, who had eight on the night, ended it at 25-8.
Senior setter Jackie Hawkins, who was a last minute starter after straining a quadracep muscle in practice on Monday, had a match high 25 assists and made sure the Eagles got it done in three games. Hawkins' pin-point passing and nifty set-ups led the Eagles to a match-ending 25-19 victory.
"My quad is fine,'' said Hawkins, who came out with a bandage on her right leg. "I'm just going to ice it and rest a little bit. I'll be fine. This is [Tuesday's win] a great way to go into the region playoffs.''
The Eagles also got outsanding defense from Ashley Fan, Molly Speicher and Samantha Todorovich who had eight, seven and five digs each respectively. Camille Freeman led Wilde Lake with seven kills and Nelson had five.
Defending state champion Reservoir won the Howard County title in 2007 and 2006, the latter year was Centennial's last state championship year. The Eagles won the 3A title in 2006 under Jerry Hulla, who is now an assistant coach at Towson University, while Reservoir was a state 2A runner-up that year.