Spartan-Inspired Saxons Rally to Advance to Saturday's State Title Game

By Angela Watts
Content Editor

Langley volleyball Coach Sue Shifflett is not a fan of the movie "300," a fictional telling of the Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartans fought to the last man against Persian King Xerxes and his army of more than one million soldiers.

In fact, she called it "a horrible movie" Thursday night.

But Shifflett will also readily admit to a new love-hate relationship with the film.

Langley -- spurred on by the fighting spirit they witnessed in a showing of 300 on the bus ride down to VCU's Siegel Center for Thursday night's Virginia AAA Semifinal against Mills Godwin -- rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Eagles, 26-24, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-9 and advance to Saturday's state title game against defending champion Deep Run at 7 p.m. in Richmond.

"Sparta!" Shiffllett screamed when a reporter asked what was said after the Saxons' had dropped Game 3 and faced elimination. "I am not lying to you! They are in love with it. That is a horrible movie -- but they made me watch it on the bus on the way up."

On cue, as Shifflett continued to speak, her ecstatic players jumped in a huddle in front of the fans who had traveled to cheer them on and shouted "Sparta! Woo woo woo!"

"And that's exactly what I said," Shifflett continued. "You are Spartan women, now's the time to do it and show it! And they gave it a 'woo woo woo!' in the huddle, and there we were."

Langley jumped to a quick 5-2 lead in Game 4, returning to the confident, more error-free form that had served them so well in the first game of the match. Because of that, even when Mills Godwin knotted the score at 8, 9, 10 and 13, there was no panicking by the Saxons.

Instead, leading by a slim 17-16 margin, Langley took control behind the powerful serving of senior left-hander Michelle Bredehoft, who ran off four consecutive points to give them a more comfortable, 22-16 advantage. The Saxons also got big plays down the stretch by junior outside hitter Logan Sebastian, senior outside hitter Elizabeth Chin, senior middle blocker Lisa Scott and senior setter Megan Shifflett to close out the match and force a deciding, fifth game.

"We didn't want our season to be over, not like that," said Scott, who will play for the University of Maryland next year. "We said that if we were going to lose, we wanted to lose playing our best and we were not playing our best. So we just wanted to finish strong; we didn't want it to be over. I knew we could pull it together ... we all knew it. And that's what carried us, being connected with each other and just feeling the spirit."

The Saxons kept the momentum going in the fifth game, opening a 3-0 lead on a crafty tip by Chin, a powerful kill by Scott from the right side on a beautiful back-set by Megan Shifflett and a left side kill by Chin. The Eagles kept it close, but they also never tied the score or took the lead.

After Mills Godwin had trimmed Langley's lead to 10-8, the Saxons scored five of the last six points, including a huge block and a blistering middle hit by Scott on back-to-back plays to end the match and ignite a Spartan-inspired celebration.

Scott paced the Saxons with 17 kills and 11 blocks, with Chin and Sebastian adding 10 and nine kills, respectively. Shifflett, for her part, totaled 37 assists and seven kills on perfectly-timed and perfectly-placed dumps. And while senior Christina Bumpas made several spectacular diving defensive stops, it was sophomore libero Elysse Richardson who paced the defense with 26 digs.

"It's one of those things where you never feel comfortable," said Megan Shifflett, who was bombarded by phone calls and text messages at games' end by interested Langley students. "We got a run going, but we knew we still had to keep fighting to the very end. This is states, and you can never give up and you can never take anything for granted. So we just kept trucking.

"I can't ... I can't even explain how much this means to us. So many people care and so many people are cheering for us and supporting us. Langley volleyball has never been like this before."

Her coach -- and mom -- couldn't have agreed more.

"Is this awesome or what?" Sue Shifflett shouted. "This is so awesome! Wow. They've got ... I don't know ... heart. Big heart. They're fighters ... it's like nothing we've ever had before at Langley."

** To see photos from Tuesday's state quarterfinal win over Princess Anne and Thursday's state semifinal win over Mills Godwin taken by Angela Watts, go to http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=dsmvp&gallery_id=909916

** Also, check the video player on the home page, or click on the "Volleyball" sports central link at the top of the page to watch video highlights from all five games between Langley and Mills Godwin taken by Jimmy Thomas, as well as video interviews with senior setter Megan Shifflett and the defensive duo of Michelle Bredehoft and Elysse Richardson.