Volleyball: Undefeated LC in Control after Sweep over Heritage

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By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor

Leesburg (Sept. 23, 2008) – There was a lot on the line Tuesday night in the volleyball showdown between rivals Heritage and Loudoun County. The Raiders were risking their 38-game win streak and first place in the AA Dulles District was up for grabs and, finally, simply, bragging rights were at stake.

Undefeated Loudoun County, playing before a fired-up “Raider Riot” student section calmly collected all the marbles — the winning streak, first place in district and braggin’ rights — with a nearly flawless 25-11, 25-18, 26-24 sweep over the Pride. LC is 11-0 overall and finishes the first half of the district slate at 7-0, while Heritage falls to 6-1 in district and 14-2-1 overall.

For the defending AA state champion Raiders, it was a 39th straight victory and a seventh straight win over neighbor Heritage. It was a loss to Heritage, back on Sept. 25, 2006, that set off the Raiders current run which includes victories in 57 of 58 contests, with the lone loss coming in the 2006 AA state title game.

“We were ready to dominate,” said LC junior setter Robin Marsala.

LC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and only trailed several times on the evening and the Raiders were never down by more than a single point in the match.

“It is a big rivalry … sometimes you let your emotions get in the way,” said Heritage coach Carmel Keilty who said her team, which swept a very good AAA Battlefield squad on Saturday, didn’t bring its “A” game Tuesday.

LC, meanwhile, showed off an “A+” mentality for much of the first two sets as the Raiders were firing on all levels, from the front row to the back row.

The Raiders pulled out all the stops for this match as it was “Yellow Day” at school and a huge Raider crowd showed up to cheer on the team. From Spirit Wear to clips from old sports movies, the Raiders were ready to roll and they did, scoring the first four points to start the match.

With sophomore Rachel Arigo (4 kills, 5 digs, 3 blocks, 13 points, 2 aces) serving, senior Shaylin O’Connell (13 kills, 4 blocks) smashed down the first attack at the net to set the tone. Senior Katie Gloe (10 digs) tooled the block for the next point and O’Connell and junior setter Robin Marsala (25 assits, 11 points) combined for the double block on the next point to make it 3-0. Arigo then rolled an ace off the net and the LC crowd was going wild as Heritage was forced to call an early time out.

O’Connell was on early in the first set and then junior Juliane Hanna (11 kills, 10 digs) went to work as she took some absolutely great sets from Marsala and just destroyed the ball.

Everything was going the Raiders way that even a bump set from senior Katie Martin (8 assists, 5 points) found senior Rochelle Latka (4 kills) who set the ball over and into the center of the Heritage defense for a ****.

Another Hanna smash and it was 13-4 LC with the Pride calling time out again.

Heritage sophomore Lian Bernett had a nice night for Heritage, with unofficially 11 kills and sophomore Emma LeMaitre also added 10 kills but Heritage was reduced to trading points with LC while trailing by double digits.

O’Connell put up a monster solo block to make it 20-11 and sophomore libero Kathleen Horvath went back to serve and didn’t stop until the Raiders had clinched it 25-11. During the final run, Horvath had an ace, Arigo threw up a block, junior Emily Vandegrift (6 kills) poached a stray dig and then Heritage sent two attacks wide.

Heritage was able to post small leads in the second set but never by more than a point with the final lead coming at 7-6. During this stretch, Bernett, LeMaitre and freshman Christine Kamis all were scoring off some nice service by Pride freshman setter Stephanie Yokoyama.

Gloe used the block to tie it at 7-7 and then Arigo crashed another ace off the net to make it 8-7. O’Connell registered a **** for a two-point lead but Heritage tied it on a LC net violation and then an ace by Yokoyama.

A great rally was finished by O’Connell to make it 10-9 and Marsala sent a nice serve for a 11-9 LC lead. Heritage fought back with Bernett and O’Connell trading kills and Bernett scoring again to make it 12-11 LC but the Pride could never find that run that would put them back in the lead.

The best Heritage could do was tie the match at 16-16 after MeMaitre’s struck for a nice ****.

LC’s go-ahead point was one-of-a-kind as Arigo went to get a ball in the backrow and she sent a free ball with her back to the net and the attempt skimmed the net and found the floor on Heritage’s side for a Raider point.

Heritage fought back for one more tie, at 18-18, with junior Skye Young powering a **** and then Bernett firing away with her left-handed quick release.

A well-timed time out for LC found O’Connell, the senior leader in the middle, scoring to stop the Pride run and then O’Connell, with Marsala serving, went back-to-back-to-back as she threw down a short set for a **** and then scored on another block.

Vandegrift went with back-to-back kills and not even a Heritage time out could slow the run as Marsala served out for the 25-18 victory with sophomore Sammy Dormio earning the last two kills. With O’Connell and Hanna for defenses to watch, the likes of Latka, Vandegrift, Dormio, Gloe, and Arigo have free reign at the net to pace LC.

The third set is probably what many fans had in mind when looking at the match-up as it was a thrilling 26-24 game.

Again, however, Heritage could never get a comfortable lead and the Pride trailed until going ahead with a late run. Down 19-16, senior Ashley Scott had a **** adn then LeMaitre and Kamis struck to tie it at 19-19. With Scott serving still, LC had back-to-back errors and it was 21-19 Heritage.

Hanna got a point back but the intense LeMaitre used the block for a 22-20 Heritage lead. Dormio was set to make it 22-21 and a Pride attack wide tied it at 22-22. LC went up as O’Connell used a little offspeed on the attack. LeMaitre again came up big to tie it at 23-23.

Heritage earned a set point after a LC error but after a Raider timeout the Pride couldn’t take advantage on the next serve and it was tied at 24-24 with the fans on both sides rocking the rook off.

Marsala was inserted to serve and she tracked down a pass near the LC bench and sent a twisting set all the way to the far side of the net where Dormio used it to beat the block for a 25-24 LC advantage. On the next point, Vandegrift had a **** to finish the rally and the evening as LC celebrated a sweep.