By: Dan Sousa
Leesburg (Nov. 14, 2006) – Two high school girls volleyball teams loaded with talented club players that needed a one-game playoff to decide their regular-season district championship and met again in the district tournament finals and the regional tournament finals.
Sounds familiar to Loudoun County and Heritage volleyball fans but the two teams in question are Grafton and Jamestown, the two Bay River District teams that the Dulles District teams will face tonight in the AA state quarterfinals.
Until now, the most competition each of these identical twins has had, has been each other but tonight’s matches will provide a new challenge as Region II champion Loudoun County (25-2) hosts Jamestown (23-4) at 7 p.m. and Region I champion Grafton (26-1) hosts Heritage (21-6) at 7 p.m.
2006 AA Girls Volleyball State Tournament |
Quarterfinals – Tuesday Nov. 14 Heritage at Grafton Tunstall at Cave Spring Jamestown at Loudoun County Brookville at Abingdon |
| Semifinals Fri. Nov. 17 at 5 and 7 p.m. at the Siegel Center in Richmond. Finals Sat. Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. |
Grafton swept Jamestown 25-18, 25-12, 25-17 to win the Region II title Saturday with all-region players Alison Blasingame (16 kills, five blocks), Kristen Tunno (21 kills, 21 digs) and Kellie Brumbaugh (34 assists) on their game. The Clippers only loss this season has come in the regular season to Jamestown.
The Eagles have lost four times all year — each time to Grafton. Jamestown was hurt Saturday by the absence of middle blocker Danielle Stolarksi who was out with an injured kneed but she is expected to play tonight in Leesburg. Jamestown is led by Tara Sutton and Becky Stowers.
Except for losses to AAA Loudoun Valley, Heritage and County have only lost to each other but the Raiders are 3-0 in postseason against the Pride with the latest win coming Saturday in the Region II final.
County’s 16 consecutive match win, 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19, was another display of a balanced attack with six players with seven kills or more – Rebecca Dancy (11), Marguerite Hanna (10), Morgan Petkovich (10), Amanda Arbogast (8), Shaylin O’Connell (7) and Paige Knudsen (7).
Heritage countered with its big two hitters combining for 23 kills – Rachel Young (12) and Alana Rudkovsky (11). Pride setter Katherine Buttery had 40 assists and Young added six blocks.
Arbogast had a season-high 11 combined blocks (six solo).
Dancy’s all around match included 11 digs, 12 service points including three aces and two block assists. Hanna added nine digs and four combined blocks and 10 service points. Petkovich had five combined blocks and O’Connell had seven for the Raiders.
Sophomore setters Katie Martin and Kerry Sarver combined for 43 assists with 24 and 19 respectively. Martin also had 10 service points and eight digs. Sarver had eight service points and three aces.
Defensively, Michelle Puckli and Sara Reilly each contributed 12 digs.
For Heritage, Lauren Bulka had 16 digs and Buttery (21), Young (16) and Rudkovsky (13) combined for 50 more digs.
Loudoun County had an easier getting into the regional finals than Heritage as the Raiders cruised to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-16 victory over Sherando. The Pride had to survive a five-game match on the road, defeating James Wood in Winchester 20-25, 25-13, 25-23, 15-25, 15-8.
O’Connell led the way against Sherando with a season-high 13 kills to go wtih seven block assists. Petkovich had 12 kills followed by Hanna (11 kills), Arbogast (eight kills) and Knudsen (seven kills). Martin had a season-high 31 assists despite the match going just three games. She also had 14 points and three aces.
Dancy led the defense with 13 digs.
In the Pride’s five-game regional semifinal win, Young had 20 kills and 26 kills while Rudkovsky added 15 kills and 13 digs. Buttery had 44 assists and 10 service points. Kelly McFarland served 13 points and had four blocks and Ashley Scott added 10 kills.
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