Ashburn, Va. — After capturing a 3-0 win against Briar Woods High School just six days earlier—securing the No. 2 seed and a bye in the district quarterfinals—the Independence High School volleyball team had to get through the Falcons once again if they wanted to keep their title hopes alive. The Tigers bent but never broke as they secured their spot in the Potomac District championship with another 3-0 victory against the Falcons on October 29 in Ashburn.
“The team is doing great, and I think going into the postseason, my goal for them was to be able to be adaptable,” Independence head coach Haley Sutton said. “So growing that volleyball IQ to be able to make a switch in serve-receive plays and in free-ball plays, and they’re proving that they can do it. I’m able to speak volleyball now, and every person on the team knows what I’m saying, and that is a huge step from August to now. I’m very proud of them.”
Briar Woods took the early edge to open the match, as junior setter Nyah Andrew (22 assists, 7 digs) found four different hitters for kills and forced Independence to burn a timeout early. The Tigers responded with a couple kills from senior outside hitter Makenzie Dvorznak (14 kills, 13 digs, 2 aces, 2 assists) to even the score.
Throughout the first set, there were nine ties and five lead changes, as each team went on short runs in an effort to sustain a permanent lead. Briar Woods senior middle hitter Naomi Grundy (9 kills, 4 blocks, 1 dig) established her presence at the net, recording 3 kills and 2 blocks in the stretch. Meanwhile, the Independence offense was led by Dvorznak, sophomore outside hitter Kieran Rhoton (12 kills, 9 digs, 1 ace, 1 block, 1 assist), junior setter Kyla Fruzzetti (12 assists, 1 dig), and senior setter/right side hitter Jenna Hathaway (21 assists, 8 kills, 4 digs, 1 block).
“During practice we work our butts off trying to figure out who our opponents are and really match up against them,” Rhoton said. “We all work as hard as we possibly can, and I think that translates.”
After evening the score at 18-18 late in the first set, the Tigers took advantage of a few Falcon errors to maintain the lead to the end, finishing on a 7-2 run which featured two statement kills from Dvorznak to complete the set, 25-20.
“With our outside hitters right now we’re working on when to make the shot and when to make the swing,” Sutton said. “Briar Woods let the line a little bit open and then they had the 4-by-4 open, so yesterday at practice, they had three minutes, and they needed to get 10 kills [to those zones].”
The extra focus on shot placement paid off, as Independence jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second set, causing Briar Woods to burn both timeouts early. Although the Falcons responded out of the timeout with a string of points, the Tigers extended their lead as Rhoton recorded 3 kills and junior middle hitter Madelyn Klees (5 aces, 2 kills, 1 block, 1 dig) had back-to-back aces during a 10-1 Independence run.
“To prepare for today, we did a lot of serve and serve-receive drills,” Rhoton said. “We worked a lot on spot serving and understanding who’s across the net from us. I think Coach Sutton knows what she’s doing, and knows what’s gonna win games, and I think spot serving and knowing your opponents is a big aspect to that.”
While Briar Woods fought back with a couple kills each from Grundy, senior outside hitter Taylor Hansen (9 kills, 4 digs, 2 aces), and senior middle hitter CeCe Brown (6 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 1 dig), it wasn’t enough to overcome the comfortable cushion that the Tigers had created, and Independence won the second set, 25-14.
“Going into the postseason, if we’re being scouted, we’re challenging the team with: can we practice other stuff and be able to apply it into a match?” Sutton said. “There’s different serve-receive plays and there’s some free ball plays. We’re running a completely different defense day to day and set to set, which is really nice. So we’re able to have the IQ of knowing we’re in this defense for this play on one side of the net, and on the other side of the net we could be running a different play.”
Independence started the third set in the same fashion as the second, this time jumping out to a 12-2 lead behind six straight kills from four different players. Klees added another pair of aces on either side of a Briar Woods timeout, and it looked as though the Tigers would cruise to another victory.
But the teams traded points as rallies ensued and the defense on both sides of the net stepped up their game. Briar Woods senior libero Molly Gardner (15 digs, 2 aces, 2 assists, 1 kill) contributed 7 of her match-high 15 digs in the third set, and Independence junior libero Ella Kliner (14 digs, 1 ace, 1 assist) recorded a set-high 10 digs in the third.
“Honestly, what it comes down to is who wants it more,” Rhoton said. “And I think we have that.”
Behind a pair of kills from Rhoton, Independence used a 5-1 run to position themselves for the win with set point at 24-10. But the Falcons weren’t giving up that easily.
Grundy provided the spark with a kill and a block, and Hansen followed with a pair of back-to-back kills. With senior defensive specialist Ellie Roed behind the service line recording 2 aces, the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to stay alive and eventually forced an Independence timeout.
“We were up by a lot of points, and I wanted the girls to feel the pressure of when a team comes back,” Sutton said. “They need to be in the mindset of, ‘We could drop this set if we don’t figure it out.’ In that rotation, you can’t move anything in serve-receive, so there was no other outlet, and they had to figure it out. I wanted them to feel that pressure.”
After a couple Independence errors brought the score to 24-22, it seemed as though a fourth set was possible.
“It was a struggle, but there’s some personalities on this team that really bring us back up,” Rhoton said. “I think we all get serious in moments like that, but we know how to uplift each other. Some people like the big group encouragement energy everywhere. I personally love the one-on-one connection because that always brings me up and helps me a ton.”
With the match on the line, the Tigers finally got the answer they were looking for with a big block on an exciting rally to end the set and the match, 25-22.
After splitting with No. 1 Riverside—and dealing them their only loss of the season—Independence will look to replicate that success when they travel to Leesburg for the Potomac District tournament championship on October 30.
“I think that split earlier in the season showed us how high volleyball we can play, and that has been our reach ever since. We know that we can beat a team who went to the state championship last year, and that’s why we work hard every single day,” Sutton said. “Monday’s practice was preparing for today against Briar Woods, and it was also preparing for either Potomac Falls or Riverside. So we’re very prepared. We’re staying focused on us and playing clean volleyball.”