Sterling, Va. — Coming off a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Independence the previous night, the Potomac Falls High School volleyball team had to rebound immediately when they faced district foe Lightridge in their third match in as many days on October 9 in Sterling. As the Panthers celebrated Dig Pink, they brought the energy needed to complete the sweep of the Lightning—25-15, 25-13, 25-20.
“After last night, we talked a lot about trust: trusting your teammate, trusting the girl next to you,” Potomac Falls head coach Holly Dobrynski said. “Just playing to have fun and coming out here and leaving it all on the court, especially for the seniors in their last Dig Pink game.”
Both teams had a bit of a slow start offensively, but the Panthers generated momentum from behind the service line to take the early lead. Recording a total of 12 aces on the match, Potomac Falls applied the pressure early, notching half of their aces in the first set. Led by sophomore libero Ela Yilmaz (6 aces, 6 digs, 1 assist)—who had back-to-back aces in the first—and junior setter Camille Ciambruschini (25 assists, 10 digs, 4 kills, 3 aces)—who had an ace in each set—Potomac Falls repeatedly caught Lightridge out of system and forced errors on the other side of the net.
“We’ve actually just started focusing more on target serves,” Dobrynski said. “I tell them where to serve, and they like the focus, and that’s where it goes.”
Several rallies ensued during the middle of the first set, as a number of players from both teams notched multiple digs in the span. Potomac Falls sophomore outside hitter Lacey Bogues (10 kills, 10 digs, 1 block) and senior outside hitter Addison Edelin (9 kills, 6 digs, 1 block) started to get hot, recording 3 kills apiece to build the Panther lead.
The Lightning fought back behind kills from junior outside hitter Jaylen Burgess (14 digs, 5 kills) and freshman middle hitter Giuliana Mastrangelo (6 kills, 5 blocks). After a 5-2 Potomac Falls run between Lightridge timeouts put the Panthers up 21-13, the Lightning responded with a big block from Mastrangelo. But a strong serving presence and an ace from Potomac Falls senior middle hitter Brianna Thompson (6 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace) sealed the win for the Panthers, 25-15.
“In practice, we make sure we’re getting all the reps we can,” Ciambruschini said. “And in games, we really communicate about what we need from each other and what we need to get done so we can succeed.”
Potomac Falls carried the momentum from the first over to the second, continuing to apply service pressure from the start. Ciambruschini and Yilmaz recorded aces to open the set, and consecutive kills from Bogues put the Panthers up 11-4 and forced the Lightning to burn a timeout.
The defense shined on both sides of the net, as Burgess recorded a set-high 8 digs to extend rallies, and Edelin and Potomac Falls junior defensive specialist Allison Wulff (11 digs, 2 aces) shut down the Lightridge offense by contributing 5 digs each. The Panthers limited the Lightning to just 3 total kills in the second set en route to a 25-13 victory.
“Our main energizer tonight was just proving to ourselves that we’re good enough to be here and play in this district,” Ciambruschini said. “It was also Dig Pink and we’re supporting breast cancer awareness, so we really wanted to show out for that.”
Ciambruschini set the tone again from the start of the third with an ace and a handful of assists—connecting with four different hitters and adding a kill of her own—to give Potomac Falls the early advantage.
“Camille does so much for this team: just lays it all on the floor, basically,” Dobrynski said. “I can always rely on her to get the set up, to get the ball up, to serve it where she needs it to go. She has a lot of heart for sure.”
But Lightridge junior setter Faith Ramirez (11 assists, 4 digs, 1 ace) found junior outside hitter Annika Cortez (6 digs, 3 kills, 1 ace) for a couple of timely finishes to keep things close. And after back-to-back kills from Mastrangelo and a Cortez ace brought the Lightning to within 2, the Panthers used a timeout to regroup and reset.
Out of the timeout, Potomac Falls used a 9-3 run—featuring another pair of consecutive aces from Yilmaz—to build on their lead. And just when it looked as though the Panthers were going to run away with the set and the match, the Lightning came charging back—going on a 6-2 run of their own.
Lightridge picked up their defense as senior libero Natalie Yee (14 digs, 1 kill, 1 assist) got more involved in the backcourt and Mastrangelo controlled the net with a couple more loud blocks. The Panthers burned their final timeout at 23-19, but it proved effective as they were able to close out the set 25-20 and complete the sweep, as both Ciambruschini and Bogues finished with double-doubles.
“Obviously the goal is to be as high as we can in the district,” Ciambruschini said. “But more than that, the goal is to have fun and push ourselves so we know we’re giving everything we can every match.”
While the teams can rest for the remainder of the week, they will both be back in action on October 15 and October 17 when Potomac Falls (3-3, 7-8) hosts Riverside and Briar Woods, and Lightridge (2-4, 9-8) hosts Independence and Riverside for the back half of the Potomac District schedule, which will determine placement for the upcoming district tournament.
“Ideally, I’d love to be able to host a district tournament match,” Dobrynski said. “That would be amazing. That would mean so much to these girls. We’ll see how it goes.”