Leesburg, Va. — The Riverside and Independence High School volleyball teams met six times in 2024, with the No. 1 Rams coming out on top on five of those occasions and the Tigers handing the Rams their only loss of their 2024 state championship season. With the shift of Independence to Class 6 this year, the teams met for the first and only time this season on September 8 in Leesburg, where Riverside came out on top once again in a 25-11, 25-17, 25-14 sweep.
Independence opened each set with the early lead, but once someone got hot behind the service line, the Rams couldn’t be stopped. The tough serving led to 23 total aces for Riverside and kept the Tigers out of system, preventing them from consistently running their offense. Leading the way for Riverside was senior setter/right side hitter Kenzie Davis (15 assists, 6 aces, 5 kills, 2 digs)—who went on a 10-0 run behind 4 aces in the first set, which enabled the Rams to take the lead and never look back.
“Serving aggressively at the line is one of the things that we’ve struggled with,” Riverside head coach Reggie Cruz said. “In regular practice, we’ve been pushing to fine tune all the parts that we can control: the serve, what we do on our side, everything from our free balls to serve receive. Whatever we can control, we try to fine tune those things in practice. Today, we did serve more aggressively, so I’m happy about that.”
Riverside junior libero Camryn Coulther recorded 7 of her 10 digs in the first set to give the Rams the opportunities they needed to terminate, and the hitters came through as senior outside hitter Nadiya Johnson (11 kills, 3 aces) crushed 5 kills and senior setter/right side hitter Sydney Ray (13 assists, 6 digs, 3 kills, 2 aces), senior middle hitter Gabbie Vizek (7 kills, 5 aces, 2 blocks, 1 dig), and Davis had 2 kills each.
Ray—who was the 6-rotation setter last year—is in a new role this season as she and Davis are sharing time as setter and right side hitter in the 6-2 offense.
“It’s definitely different for me. In practice, it’s a challenge because I’m going up against Nadiya and Gabbie for my block. So it’s definitely different,” Ray said. “But they prepare me for games like this where I can have smart shots, and I think I’m doing a really good job. I’m using my athleticism, jumping high, and I also get put in serve receive. So they’ve been giving me a lot of practice on that, and I appreciate it because it is making me a better all-around player.”
The Tigers were limited to just 5 kills in the first, while Riverside ended the set on a 6-0 run during which senior defensive specialist Hanna Hessabi recorded 3 of her 6 aces to give the Rams the 25-11 victory.
After ties at 3-3, 6-6, and 7-7, the Rams started to pull away in the second set with Johnson behind the service line recording all three of her aces in a 5-0 run. The Tigers sparked some late hope as junior outside hitters Kaelyn Wharton (7 kills, 2 digs) and Kieran Rhoton (9 kills, 1 dig) got involved with 4 kills apiece.
“Kieran is their main hitter, so I think we definitely have to get her out of system because then it frazzles the other team a little bit,” Ray said. “The first hour of our practice is sometimes just serve and pass because we know every game starts with the serves, so that’s how you become an aggressive serving team as a whole.”
After another ace by Hessabi and one from Vizek as well, Riverside put an end to the set, 25-17, with a kill from junior outside hitter Kennedy Peyton (6 kills, 1 dig).
Despite another early Independence lead in the third set—during which the Tigers took advantage of some Riverside errors and a big Rhoton kill—the Rams stormed back to force ties at every point from 6 to 9. Once again, it was the service pressure that allowed the Rams to break away as Ray recorded back-to-back aces, Hessabi contributed another one, and Vizek had three consecutive aces to put the game out of reach for the Tigers.
Rhoton added another 4 kills to her team-high 9-kill performance with assists from senior setter Kyla Fruzzetti (11 assists, 1 dig), freshman setter Caroline Calaluca (7 assists, 4 digs), and junior libero Natalie Phillips (5 digs, 4 assists, 1 ace). But it wasn’t enough to overcome the tough serves from the Rams, as Riverside closed the set and the match with a 25-14 third-set win.
“I felt it was really hard to keep them out of system. Independence is still very strong. I didn’t take them for granted; I kept most of my starters in the game almost the whole time. I put my best players in there because you can’t rest with these guys,” Cruz said. “That’s always the goal for every team we play: try to get them out of system. But they’re not a pushover team. They played hard, we played hard. It was a good game.”
Independence (0-2, 0-7) will look to get a mark in the win column when they host Woodgrove on September 9 before travelling to Battlefield for a district matchup on September 11. Riverside (0-0, 6-2) will begin district play at home against Briar Woods and on the road at John Champe on the same nights.
“We have some younger players this year, so we’re helping them develop so they can help us on the court,” Ray said. “We’re just going to be working together because we’re really close as a team because we all grew up together, so I hope we can repeat the same success we had last year.”