Leesburg, Va. — All season, the Riverside High School volleyball team has had one goal: to return to the state championship match and this time to bring home the state title. Their VHSL Class 5 quarterfinal was just one step along the way to getting them there, as they made easy work of Region 5C runner up Albemarle—25-10, 25-15, 25-10—on November 16 in Leesburg.
“It feels really, really great,” Riverside junior middle hitter Gabbie Vizek said. “I think we all showed up today, played hard, played with a lot of energy, played clean, and played for each other and with each other. It just feels great, and I’m excited for what comes next.”
The Rams controlled the net from the start, with back-to-back blocks from Vizek (6 kills, 6 blocks, 1 ace, 1 dig) and junior right side hitter Nadiya Johnson (8 kills, 3 aces, 2 digs, 1 block). Junior setter Sydney Ray (21 assists, 2 digs, 1 ace) found Vizek and Johnson for a couple kills to go up 5-1. Sophomore libero Camryn Coulther (9 digs, 2 aces, 1 assist) then recorded both of her aces in a 5-0 Riverside run to extend the lead to 10-2.
“The idea was to serve deep against them,” Riverside head coach Reggie Cruz said. “From watching film, we realized they like to pull up a lot on serve-receive, but they came out starting deep already, so we were then working on short serves. No matter how much we’ve prepared, the other team prepares for us too, and we have to adjust to what they have.”
The Rams continued riding the momentum with a 6-0 run to give them the largest lead of the match at 20-5. Senior middle hitter Brianna Holladay (6 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces) recorded a kill and then followed it up with an ace during the stretch.
Although Albemarle responded with a 5-1 run of their own behind kills from junior outside hitters Myah Washington (5 kills, 1 dig) and Tumpe Mwenechanya (3 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace), the Rams finished the set on a 4-0 run with a Vizek block and kills from Johnson and senior outside hitter Simone Schaefer (4 aces, 4 digs, 2 kills) for the 25-10 victory.
Riverside was clearly prepared for this match, having done their homework to study up on their opponent, and every member of the team contributed to that effort.
“We’re doing something a little bit different this year,” Cruz said. “We, as the coaches, already go through film; that’s a regular thing. We make our own notes, and then we assign [scouting]to the players based upon their positions about what to look out for, and we go over it in depth. We have them present it to the rest of the team, and then we tell them, ‘yes or no about that, add this to it, we also got this thing to look out for.’ We empower them to realize what we’re watching for instead of being told what to do. They know what to do because they’ve seen it themselves.”
The players were important contributors in this effort, and their preparation off the court showed when they stepped onto the court.
“The moment we found out who we were playing, everyone automatically started scouting them,” Schaefer said. “Each player looks into the corresponding position on that team. We have team meetings before and after practice. Bri [Holladay] prints out a whole scouting report on them, and we go over it. We practice what we need to do in the game, and that’s why everything is so much easier than it was before.”
With the extra preparation to know their opponent, the Rams capitalized on weaknesses and pinpointed open areas on the court. Ray connected with all of her hitters for kills in each set, and the Rams applied pressure from behind the service line, recording 15 aces on the match.
Riverside controlled the second set from start to finish, being led offensively by Johnson, Holladay, and sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Peyton (4 kills, 4 digs, 2 aces, 1 block). Coulther contributed a set-high 6 digs to keep rallies alive and give the Rams more offensive opportunities.
Although another late Patriots run, featuring a couple kills from senior middle hitter Trinity Brown (3 kills, 1 dig), brought the game within 7, Schaefer recorded a kill and then followed it up with back-to-back aces to set Holladay up for the winning kill at 25-15.
“On a game day for me, the game starts right when I wake up,” Schaefer said. “I have a good breakfast, I try to stay off of electronics, stay off of screens. I do a lot of visualization before the game, so it kind of helps bring the affirmations and good energy into the game. I think the rest of my team does that too. We really try to keep a good mindset. A lot of it is preparation.”
Much like the previous two sets, Riverside came out strong in the third, as two blocks from Vizek and one from Peyton shut down the Albemarle attack and gave the Rams an early 5-1 lead.
“Watching film is always important. Anticipating your attackers, knowing where they might go, knowing their tendencies is what helped a lot,” Vizek said. “Knowing where you wanna block, where they might go for the ball, I think that really helps in fronting them. And the drive to want to get the block, I think that’s what enables me and helps me a lot.”
Johnson and Holladay recorded a couple kills apiece, and five different Rams contributed aces in the middle stretch, as Riverside extended the lead to 18-6. Vizek had the hot hand late, adding another block and connecting with Ray on 3 kills to put the game out of reach for the Patriots.
“Setter and middle connection is really, really important,” Vizek said. “We work on it a lot in practice: knowing where to be, running different plays, and creating that separation so that we know what’s open and where we wanna go on the court.”
Although Albemarle senior middle hitter Morgan Ascoli (4 kills) also got hot late and added 3 kills for her team, it wasn’t enough to overcome the power and preparation of the Rams, as they completed the sweep with another Holladay kill to end the set, 25-10.
“We have the weekend off, so everyone’s gonna rest and take care of their bodies,” Schaefer said. “The moment we get back, it’s all about staying focused on the game. It’s an important job for me and the other seniors to make sure that we’re earning what we’re doing. If we’re gonna play a game and not practice before and we don’t win, then we didn’t earn it. So as long as we’re playing and we’re focused at practice, it’s gonna show in the game.”
The quarterfinal victory moves Riverside into a VHSL Class 5 State semifinal on November 19, where they will host a familiar foe: Independence, a 3-0 winner over Midlothian in another quarterfinal. The Rams and Tigers will face off for the sixth and final time this season for the opportunity to play for the state championship on November 23.
“I think our main focus is to just keep ourselves humble and to keep our eye on the prize,” Cruz said. “Every win helps us feel more confident, but at the same time, it can also lower our defenses. I want us to stay hungry throughout the rest of the season because the season’s not over. We still gotta be hungry for the next game and for the next game until we finally put that [state championship]banner up there.”