Ashburn, Va. — The first match of the season always brings about excitement and nerves as teams are settling in and adjusting to new players, lineups, and rotations. This was especially true for the Briar Woods High School volleyball team when they traveled to Independence High School for their 2025 season opener on August 25 in Ashburn. After the Tigers took the first two sets convincingly, the Falcons used late surges to steal the third and fourth sets and then dominated in the fifth for the reverse sweep—17-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-4.
“Indy is always a tough team,” Briar Woods head coach Joe Riggio said. “So for us this was a good benchmark because they’re a fantastic team. Any time you reverse sweep, obviously, I’m super proud of the girls.”
Although Briar Woods ended with the momentum, Independence started with it, setting the tone early with back-to-back aces from senior setter Kyla Fruzzetti (18 assists, 4 digs, 2 aces). The Tigers led the entire first set and took advantage of ten kills from five different hitters and a negative Falcon hitting percentage in the first set to cruise to a 25-17 victory.
“We started off really slow, but some of the freshmen stepped up,” Riggio said. “The beginning of the season is always fine-tuning rotations and getting the freshman nerves out of the way, but tonight was about giving some of the freshmen the opportunity to step up in a big game, and I think they did a great job.”
A few kills from Briar Woods freshman outside hitter Mihika Mamidi (9 kills, 5 digs) put the Falcons up early in the second set, but Independence slowly chipped away at the lead behind some big plays at the net from sophomore middle hitter Victoria Liakos (7 kills, 4 blocks, 2 digs, 1 ace, 1 assist).
Longer rallies led to more involvement from the defense on both sides of the net. Independence junior libero Arianna Morales (10 digs, 1 ace, 1 assist) and junior setter/right side hitter Kaelyn Wharton (18 assists, 13 digs, 8 kills, 3 blocks) each had a handful of digs, while Briar Woods senior libero Molly Gardner (16 digs, 3 aces, 2 assists) contributed a set-high 6 digs in the second set.
But a 6-0 Tiger run with junior outside hitter Kieran Rhoton (13 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces) behind the service line halfway through the set—during which the Falcons burned both their timeouts—allowed Independence to take the lead for good. Consecutive blocks from Wharton and Liakos sealed the 25-19 win and a 2-0 set advantage.
It looked as though Independence was going to run away with the match, as they started the third set on a dominant 11-2 run. But the young Briar Woods squad had other plans. Freshman setter Kayla Chang (33 assists, 10 digs, 4 aces) found five different hitters for eleven total kills in the set—including freshman right side hitter Marisa Barreto who entered the match and made an immediate impact recording 4 of her 7 kills.
“Our setter Kayla did a fantastic job distributing the ball,” Riggio said. “We just kept the momentum on our side and we ran with it.”
The Falcons chipped away at the Tiger lead, going on their own 10-3 run behind a couple kills each from sophomore outside hitter Allie Bowen (8 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces, 1 block) and senior middle hitter Michelle Herbert (9 kills, 3 blocks, 2 digs, 1 assist) to force an Independence timeout at 14-12. Briar Woods then tied it at 16-16 and 19-19, but each time Independence answered. Tying the game again at 20-20 was the turning point, as Gardner went to the service line and rattled off a couple aces to put the Falcons ahead for the first time in the set.
“Molly is such a great anchor for us,” Riggio said. “She just has that calm presence to her, and with her serve, she’s always stepping up for us and we’re happy for that. We know we can rely on her serve.”
A 6-1 run including a block by Herbert and another kill from Bowen brought it home for the Falcons, who extended the match with a 25-21 set-three victory.
“We definitely have a lot of lessons learned we’re gonna work on as a team, but I’m super proud of the mental part of the game where we just kind of composed ourselves,” Riggio said. “Any time you’re playing a tough team like Indy, you just have to regroup mentally and work on the fundamentals. We put the pressure on with our serve, and things fell into place after that.”
The opening stretch of the fourth set featured six ties and three lead changes as both teams traded kills and battled for the upper hand. Eventually, the Tigers began to pull away behind the set-high 6 kills from Rhoton. At 21-16, it again appeared as though Independence would end the match. But once again, the balanced Falcon attack allowed Briar Woods to creep back in it one point at a time.
Back-to-back kills from Herbert and an ace from Chang tied the set at 22-22. Rhoton answered and forced a Briar Woods timeout, but the Falcons scored the final three points to win 25-23 and force a deciding fifth set.
With an opportunity to pull off the upset, the Falcons got to work early, jumping out to a 5-1 lead to force an Independence timeout. Although the Tigers got within 3 at 7-4, another Falcon freshman was ready to step up to seal the victory. Following a Mamidi kill, Briar Woods freshman defensive specialist Allison Tan (4 aces, 3 digs) went to the service line and fired off back-to-back aces, causing Independence to burn their final timeout.
“We always compete for regions and districts, so the standards are always high,” Riggio said. “I told the freshmen, ‘Just because you’re a freshman, that doesn’t mean we’re lowering our standards.’ We want them to rise. So for us, we’re really looking to grow and compete.”
Out of the timeout, Tan recorded another ace, and after a couple Independence hitting errors, Mamidi crushed a final kill on the 8-0 Briar Woods run to close out the set and claim the 5-set win, 15-4.
“We’re taking it one game at a time, but I’m so proud of them,” Riggio said. “This was a huge win for us.”
With no rest before their next match, Independence (0-0, 0-1) will look to rebound immediately when they host Lightridge on August 26. Briar Woods (0-0, 1-0) will be back in action the following week and will look to build on this early success when they travel to Heritage on September 2 and host Broad Run on September 4.