August 28, 2008

The Dominion Titans earned their first victory of the season and first 3-0 win since 2006, over the Marshall Statesmen on Thursday night.

The Statesmen who are lead by new head coach Chris Ann Becki, who also coaches for Northern Virginias premier club program Virginia Elite, were entering their first match of the year against the Titans who had lost their opener to Millbrook. The Statesmen came out strong against the Titans who were clearly bigger and appeared more experienced. After trading points through the first half of game one, Marshall began to pull away due to unforced Titan errors and a handful of fortunate shots that dribbled off the net and to the floor for points. After a timeout with Marshall leading 15-11, the Titans went on a 9-6 run prompting Marshall to call a timeout of their own. After the timeout, Marshall was able to get the lead back to two points with some timely kills from their middle attack. Trailing by 2 points and the score at 23-21, the Titans called their last timeout to regroup and make a final push. The team seemed to wake up and although they were critically close to losing game one, a sense of confidence permeated from the group as they took the floor and prepared to make a final run. The Titan serve receive and defense picked up, serving became sniper accurate, and the offense hummed as the team went on a 6-1 run to win game one 26-24 and set the tone for the rest of the match.

Clearly rattled by letting game one slip away, the Statesmen came out slow in game two while the Titans found their groove and continued to score points off of aggressive serving and offense. Sparking the Titan offense was Cassie Glosner who provided some very timely and aggressive kills from the middle as the Titans jumped ahead 13-5 and forced the Statesmen to use both timeouts. Sam Kelleher and Stephanie Lummis continued to apply pressure through tough serving and accounted for service runs of 4 points each during game two. Kelleher really appeared to pick things up defensively and ended with a match high 18 digs while only having one error on the night. The Titans were able to increase their lead and wind up winning game two 25-15.

In game 3 the Titans were hitting on all cylinders as evidenced by the team siding out on 9 of 12 attempts. Leading throughout the match was Lauren Wong who ended the night with 2 aces, 8 kills, and 9 digs for a good overall performance. Offensively, the Titans looked sharp as Glosner, Lummis, and Wong continued to pepper the Marshall defense with attacks from all over the court. Due to continues attacks, the Statesmen were unable to get into a good flow offensively and allowed the Titan defense to tighten up and dig many balls that led to transition points. When all was said and done, the Titans had pulled out a game three, 25-13 win and completed the sweep.

News of note: Benita Voran suited up for the varsity team and started at the Opposite position. Voran ended the night with 2 aces, 2 kills, and 5 digs. Alaina Sisson who has battled back problems set a good match totaling 22 assists while not having any service or setting errors on the night.

Stat Leaders:

Kills: Lummis 9, Wong 8, Glosner 7
Digs: Kelleher 18, Wong 9, Lummis & Voran 5
Blocks: Davenport 2
Aces: Kelleher 4, Davenport 3, Wong & Voran 2
Assists: Sisson 22