Leesburg, Va. — In their sixth and final meeting of the 2024 season, the Riverside and Independence High School volleyball teams met in a VHSL Class 5 State semifinal game on November 19 in Leesburg for the opportunity to move on and play for the state championship. Much like they had done a week earlier in the VHSL Region 5D championship match, the Rams overpowered the Tigers—25-17, 25-23, 25-13—to claim their return trip to the state championship match.
“‘This is our future: our future is to go to states again and this time win it.’ That mentality was shared amongst everybody from the get-go, and the girls were the biggest part about it,” Riverside head coach Reggie Cruz said. “They were focusing every practice on getting back [to the state championship]. We have five new players, because we had to replace the seniors [from last season], and somehow everybody kind of fell in line.”
Riverside jumped out to the early 11-3 lead behind the power of junior right side hitter Nadiya Johnson (13 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks, 3 aces)—who recorded 3 kills and a block in the stretch—and the precision of junior setter Sydney Ray (29 assists, 13 digs, 1 kill, 1 block)—who found four different hitters for kills. Independence was forced to burn a timeout early, and it looked as though the Rams would cruise to victory.
“Playing Independence so many times, we were able to get used to how they played, and I feel that helped a lot. Even before the game, we watched film and we were super prepared, practicing and getting ready for them, even though we played them multiple times,” Johnson said. “I think that dominating was a mindset. I just wanted to finish it quickly and play my best and play as hard as I could.”
The Tigers weren’t going away, though, as sophomore outside hitter Kieran Rhoton (9 kills, 10 digs, 1 block) recorded back-to-back overpass kills on serves from senior setter/right side hitter Jenna Hathaway (11 assists, 8 kills, 2 digs, 2 aces, 1 block) to bring Independence within 5.
But Riverside junior middle hitter Gabbie Vizek (7 kills, 6 blocks, 2 digs) had other plans with a block-kill-block combo to give the Rams a 9-point lead. Johnson then built on that lead with a kill followed by an ace for the Rams’ largest lead of the set at 22-11.
Even though the Tigers made a late push with a 5-1 run behind a block and distributions from Hathaway and a couple put-aways from Rhoton, Riverside built a lead that couldn’t be overcome, and sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Peyton (5 kills, 9 digs, 1 ace) finished the set with a pair of kills, 25-17.
“I’m really proud of the girls for being able to put their egos aside,” Cruz said. “You see how much talent is on this team. Real competitors want the ball, and these girls are able to want the ball but still cheer for their teammates for getting the side-out, getting the kill, or making the extra play for each other. I’m just proud that they’re able to put that aside and think team first. They’ve done a good job of that.”
While Riverside had the strong start in the first set, it was Independence who controlled the beginning of the second, as senior outside hitter Makenzie Dvorznak (6 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces) got hot behind the service line with 2 aces after siding-out with a kill. Rhoton also contributed a couple kills in the effort, and sophomore setter/right side hitter Kaelyn Wharton (15 assists, 4 kills, 7 digs, 1 ace) was finding her hitters for contributions.
After a kill and an ace from Hathaway, Johnson flipped the script with a kill and 2 aces of her own to tie the set at 9-9. The Rams went on a 9-1 run to completely erase the early Independence lead. Riverside senior outside hitter Simone Schaefer (4 kills, 6 digs, 3 aces, 1 block) got in on the action with a kill and 2 aces too, and the Tigers took a timeout at 14-10 to regroup.
The teams traded points out of the timeout, but Dvorznak brought her team back once again with pressure behind the service line. During a 5-0 Independence run, Dvorznak provided strong serves to keep the Rams out of system and an ace to tie the score and force Riverside to burn their final timeout at 17-17.
“I’m very proud of my seniors; they were great,” Independence head coach Haley Sutton said. “Makenzie [Dvorznak] and Jenna [Hathaway], the captains, are both going to play Division III, which is awesome. They’re both workhorses. They both do what I say. They both bought in. They’re just great kids.”
Riverside got the side-out after the timeout, but Rhoton then took over with a kill-block-kill combo to give the Tigers their first lead since the opening stretch. But it was short-lived, as Johnson once again turned the tide in favor of the Rams with 2 statement kills to swing the lead back to her team’s side.
With ties at every point from 19 to 23, the teams battled down the stretch. But it was Riverside who ultimately got the upper hand with a side-out kill from senior middle hitter Brianna Holladay (4 kills, 1 block) and a finish to a wide-open corner by Vizek for the 25-23 win.
“We’ve played them a lot of times, so we knew their tendencies,” Vizek said. “The most important thing for us was to stay consistent, play clean, play confident, and be ready.”
Carrying over the momentum from the end of the second set, the Rams took control early in the third behind 3 kills from Johnson.
“The second set we were competing, and that’s the way we want to win: by competing,” Johnson said. “I think it’s good preparation for the finals as well.”
The Tigers continued to fight, though, as Wharton stepped up her defense with a set-high 6 digs, and Hathaway contributed a kill, a couple assists, and an ace in a small run to tie the set at 7-7 and again at 8-8.
But it was pretty much all Riverside from there on out. The Rams used a 5-0 run to force an Independence timeout at 13-8. Although the Tigers responded with a few kills and an ace, Johnson recorded a couple blocks and a few more kills dished out by Ray to shut them down for good.
“When I get in the air, I look around for a second, and scan where to hit,” Johnson said. “Even if it’s an off-swing, I try to aim for a good spot. I’ve been practicing that a lot: different shots and flicking my wrist.”
Riverside was so strong at the net, with Vizek and Johnson forming a wall that the Independence offense struggled to get through. The Rams ended the third set on a 10-1 run, and Vizek had the game-winning kill from the back row for the 25-13 victory.
“It was surprising to get that kill. I serve in the third set, so anything can happen,” Vizek said. “On that kind of ball, you just gotta be aggressive and go for it. So I went for it, and it ended up turning out, so it was really great!”
Although the loss ends the Tigers’ historic season with an 18-9 final record, they remain as the only team this season who took down the Rams in a thrilling five-set match on September 30.
“Tonight, obviously isn’t the outcome that we wanted, but look at what we’ve done this season,” Sutton said. “We made program history. We are third/fourth in the state. Being here in states, it just sets the standard. At the beginning of the season, I said that I was gonna get the team to at least the state quarters; that was my main goal. But beating Riverside, getting here, it is truly remarkable. It’s just the best thing ever, even though we got swept again tonight. Riverside is a talented team. Statistically, physically, you look at everything, they should beat us. They should go win the state championship. And the fact that we beat them at a point, we took them to five at a point, we didn’t give up; I’m proud of the girls regardless. Riverside should win, but I have kids who are not as big, are not as mighty, but they work hard and have a big heart.”
The win secures Riverside’s return to the VHSL Class 5 State championship match on November 23 in Richmond.
“I’m feeling really excited, but also a little nervous,” Vizek said. “The most important thing is to stay confident, be prepared, and stay ready because anything can happen. We’ve seen that last year, so we need to go in humble and ready to play.”
“I feel so blessed to be on this team,” Johnson said. “I know we worked really hard, so I think we deserve it.”
With everything on the line, the Rams will face VHSL Region 5A champion Floyd Kellam, a 3-0 winner over First Colonial in the other semifinal, for the winner-take-all final.
“I heard Kellam’s a very good team,” Cruz said. “It’s gonna be a whole lot of hours of film for me and then classroom hours of film for the girls. But knowing them, their focus, they’re probably going to start looking online before me because they really want a banner. They want that red one [for a state championship]. We have a couple of blues [for district championships], and now we have a couple of grays [for region championships]. We want the red one, and we want the hardware.”