Sterling, Va. — Earlier this season, the Park View High School volleyball team took down Mountain View Christian Academy in straight sets. Although they needed an additional set during their rematch on September 11 in Sterling, the Patriots got the job done again with a 25-20, 26-24, 24-26, 25-15 victory.
“This is super exciting. We have now officially beat our record from last year with two wins under our belt,” Park View head coach Gabby Eid-Jones said. “The girls have been playing really, really hard this year, and I think their hard work is paying off and showing on the court. So we’re super excited to get this win.”
The Patriots took the lead early in the first behind a 5-0 service run from sophomore outside hitter Fiona Mani (8 aces, 5 digs, 4 kills), who recorded half of her aces in the first set. Although the Conquerors came back to tie it five times in the middle stretch, Park View went on another run with Mani behind the service line to take the lead for good.
The Patriot offense was firing from all spots as junior middle hitter Kelly Truong (5 kills, 4 aces, 2 digs, 1 block), senior middle hitter Angie Lopez (9 kills, 1 block), senior setter/right side hitter Camila Alcantara (9 digs, 9 aces, 7 kills, 6 assists), and senior outside hitter Sol Uriarte (6 kills, 4 digs) picked up multiple kills in the set. Junior setter Linda Lam (16 assists, 3 digs, 2 kills), senior setter Nadia Echeverria (5 assists, 2 kills), and Alcantara combined for 12 assists on 15 kills and limited the Conquerors to just 5 kills to take the first set 25-20.
“Knowing who my hitters are really helps, like looking around before I set them is really the move before actually doing it. I think talking to them and having a little chat is also something that helps,” Echeverria said. “So it’s usually what I feel most comfortable doing. If I feel like the ball is at a really good height, and I’m really close to target, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, this is a middle ball. This has got to be a two.’”
Mountain View opened the second set on a 4-1 run, but Park View fought back to tie the set at 5-5 and 6-6. After another 6-1 Conqueror run, Eid-Jones called a timeout to allow her squad to regroup. Out of the timeout, the Patriots took advantage of kills from Lopez, Echeverria, and senior outside hitter Adama Conteh (5 digs, 3 kills, 1 assist) and a few Mountain View errors to bring the set within 2 at 19-17.
“We really try to focus on those three touches: your bump, your set, your hit, and changing it up because if the same person keeps hitting, it gets kind of repetitive,” Eid-Jones said. “So that’s why we have really strong hitters in our middle and right side and outside so we can play a little bit of everyone to change it up and then hopefully throw off the other team. The girls are aware of how to move the ball around the court so that everyone can get a touch on it.”
Park View then went on a 6-0 run behind kills from Alcantara and Lam, a big block from Lopez, and an ace from Alcantara to take the lead. But 4 straight points for the Conquerors brought the score to 23-23, and a kill by middle hitter Madi Lynch (8 kills, 8 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace) from setter Maddie Mayberry (15 assists, 3 digs, 3 aces, 1 kill) gave Mountain View the first opportunity at set point. But a Conqueror hitting error followed by kills from Lopez and Echeverria allowed the Patriots to escape with the 26-24 win.
“The girls are really consistent with coming to practice, and every time they watch game film back, they’re always asking, ‘What can we improve on? What can we do better?’ And [the coaches]are helping and changing things as we go,” Eid-Jones said. “They’re constantly wanting to learn how to be better players, and I think that has allowed them to actually excel in what they’re doing. Overall, it’s great team camaraderie during practices and games. They really want to play together.”
Both teams picked up their defense in the third set as more rallies ensued and finding the floor became more difficult. Mountain View outside hitter Zoe Harbin (14 digs, 6 kills, 3 aces, 1 assist) racked up 9 of her game-high 14 digs, and Conteh and Alcantara had 4 digs each. Errors plagued the Patriots, though, as the Conquerors took advantage of the Park View miscues to go up 11-5.
Park View strung together a few small runs behind back-to-back aces from Alcantara and kills from Truong, Mani, and Uriarte to get back in it and tie the set at every point from 16 to 18. Another pair of consecutive aces from Alcantara on a 5-0 Patriot run gave Park View its first lead since the opening point. It looked as though the Patriots were going to sweep the Conquerors again, but four straight errors opened the door for Mountain View to tie it late at 22-22.
Park View had the opportunity for match point after a Uriarte kill, but a couple more Patriot errors, a kill from Harbin, and an ace from outside hitter Autumn Cincotta (12 digs, 3 aces, 2 kills) sealed the 26-24 win for the Conquerors and forced a fourth set.
“I think we were trying to get a little fancy with our sets and our hits a little bit, trying to tip it a lot, and they were already expecting that,” Echeverria said. “So we focused on adjusting to the sets, pulling back, making sure we were transitioning from defensive to offense, and trying to get those passes, sets, and hits correct. That’s what we adjusted, and we talked more as well.”
The beginning of the fourth set featured six ties and four lead changes as each team battled for the upper hand. Park View began to break away after the tie at 6-6 with a 5-0 run in which Alcantara recorded three consecutive aces to put the Patriots up 10-6. But the Conquerors responded with a 4-0 run themselves for the final tie of the set at 10-10.
After that it was all Park View as Echeverria found Lopez for back-to-back kills, Mani recorded two more aces, and sophomore libero Ashlyn Cooper (13 digs, 2 aces, 1 assist) kept plays alive to give the offense more opportunities. Truong served an ace to bring it to match point, and although the Patriots lost the next point, Lam dished a winner to Uriarte who sealed the 25-15 win.
“We’re excited to win this as a team just because we’ve been struggling a little bit because we’ve never played with each other before. This is the first year we get sophomores, juniors, and seniors on one team together. So it feels amazing to get to share this with the other upperclassmen, and I think it’s amazing that we won today,” Echeverria said. “I hope that we keep this energy up. Honestly, we’ve been starting to keep the energy up, and today we kept the energy up throughout the whole four sets, so I hope we keep that going for the rest of the season.”
Park View (0-0, 2-3) will be back in action at their own tournament on September 13 and at Freedom-Woodbridge on September 16.
“The goal for me is always to have the girls find a love in the sport of volleyball. At the end of the day, this is their high school time. They should be having fun in volleyball. You don’t want to make an experience where they don’t look fondly back on it,” Eid-Jones said. “So we’re coming together as a team to do different team events. We’re going to a college game together and having team bonding opportunities so they all feel like part of a team together. I think that’s our main goal outside of doing well.”