Sterling, Va. — When the top two teams in each VHSL Region 4C district meet, an exciting game is to be expected. This was the case when the Loudoun County High School volleyball team traveled to Dominion High School for a regular season match on October 7. After only trailing once early in the first set, the Captains—the No. 2 team in the most recent edition of the LoCo Top 5—went up one set to none, but then found themselves playing catch up as the No. 4 Titans battled to claim the second and third sets. It looked as though Dominion would come away with the W, but the Captains fought off two match points to win the fourth in extra points and then never let up the lead in the fifth en route to a 25-17, 23-25, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12 victory in Sterling.
“It’s never a boring game when you get Loudoun County versus Dominion. You can always expect good volleyball, scrappy volleyball, just tough competition through and through. Girls on both sides of the court showed a lot of grit, and both teams really brought their A game tonight,” Loudoun County head coach Sarah Mozeyko said. “This game held so much weight for our postseason standings. Dominion did have a better record than us, and we just really needed to solidify this win so that we can hopefully have a home game in the postseason.”
Right from the start, excitement ensued as ties occurred at every point from 2 to 9 as the teams battled it out and traded kills. Loudoun County senior setter Claire Popish (28 digs, 26 assists, 4 aces) and junior setter Morgan Karle (24 assists, 9 digs) worked hard to spread the offense and dish the ball out to all hitters. On the other side of the court, Dominion junior setter Ingrid Smith (42 assists, 12 digs, 2 aces, 2 kills) found success with senior outside hitter Megan Hiltner (22 kills, 14 digs, 1 ace) for three early kills.
The Captains gained the upper hand after the back-and-forth thanks to a 5-0 run with senior outside hitter Charlotte Arrington (23 kills, 12 digs, 4 aces, 1 block, 1 assist) behind the service line. Although the Titans responded with a couple kills, Loudoun County then went on a 5-1 run to increase the gap to 20-13, as five different Captains recorded kills during the run.
Back-to-back Arrington kills from Karle and an ace from junior middle hitter Sydney Miller (7 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace) forced Dominion to burn their last timeout. Despite a couple Titan points late in the set, Arrington crushed another kill, and Popish finished the set with an ace to end it, 25-17.
“Charlotte is such a force to be reckoned with. You can always expect what I call a ‘crispy kill’ from her,” Mozeyko said. “She just has a fire in her, and it was definitely well-lit tonight.”
The second set began with small runs by each team, but the Captains maintained the lead behind the strong attacks and two aces from Arrington. Dominion senior outside hitter Amaya Bowles (22 kills, 11 digs, 4 aces, 1 assist) and Hiltner made some adjustments on offense and began mixing in tips and roll shots to force the Loudoun County setters to play the first ball, therefore forcing the Captains to run an out-of-system offense. This led to some Captain errors that the Titans took advantage of.
Eventually Dominion went on a 7-3 run late to tie the set for the first time at 20-20 and then again at 22-22 following a pair of consecutive kills from Bowles. The Titans took their first lead of the set after a Loudoun County error and then capitalized on their first opportunity at set point behind a Bowles ace to win the set, 25-23, and tie the match 1-1.
“We just had to adjust our defense. At the end of the second set and the beginning of the third, we told the setters to pull up to just right off the 10-foot line because we wanted off-block coverage and 10-foot line coverage. We told them to worry about just those balls,” Mozeyko said. “We definitely trusted our middle backs to pick up anything past the setters, what they couldn’t see. So having those open conversations in our huddles and asking if they’re seeing something or reacting to something and asking them to speak up and add their point of view on defense is very helpful. We pulled the setters up for that coverage, took away the tip ball, and took away the option of tooling our block.”
Another riveting third set featured eight ties and four lead changes as both teams fought to gain the upper hand. There were small runs on each side to start the set, but three early kills from Dominion senior middle hitter Mila Antonov (6 kills, 3 blocks) allowed the Titans to go up. Hiltner then added a few kills of her own as Dominion took its largest lead of the set at 10-6.
The Captains responded with a 4-0 run behind kills from senior outside hitter Jo Seekford (15 kills, 8 digs) and junior right side hitter Brooke LaRue (8 kills, 2 digs, 1 block, 1 assist) to tie it at 10-10. But a 6-2 Titan run featuring three kills from Bowles and a kill and an ace from Hiltner forced Loudoun County to call a timeout.
Once again, the Captains countered with a 6-1 run as the defensive coverage picked up and senior libero Isa DeWan (14 assists, 11 digs, 1 ace) stepped in to distribute out-of-system balls. Popish recorded 7 of her match-high 28 digs in the third set, and Loudoun County benefitted from a balanced offensive attack with contributions from five different hitters throughout the set.
“Claire was able to pop a lot of those offspeed balls up, and Isa was able to come through fluidly and assist the outside on the out-of-system offense,” Mozeyko said.
Following a Dominion timeout after Loudoun County went up 18-17, Antonov stuffed a block and the Titans scored three straight points on Captain errors. Smith—who had a set-high 14 assists in the third—connected with Hiltner after an extended rally to put the Titans up 23-20, and Loudoun County used its final timeout to slow the momentum.
Although the Captains scored three in a row to tie it at 23-23, and then again at 24-24, Smith found Bowles and Antonov for kills to end the set in extra points at 26-24 and go up 2-1 on the match.
Dominion came out on fire in the fourth and jumped to a 7-1 lead behind two Bowles aces and a couple Loudoun County errors. Following a Captain timeout, Hiltner and Arrington traded kills as the Captains fought to get back in it.
“In the fourth set we started down 7-1, and we just had to remind the girls of the weight of this game and what it means come postseason since Dominion is a region rival to us,” Mozeyko said. “Eventually they just headed out of the timeout and they pulled it together. They started executing small things to slow down the pace of the game and control it and make it ours again—chipping away at the scoreboard and just making smart plays with our offense and locking in on defense.”
At the start of the fourth set, Mozeyko made a lineup change that swapped Seekford with sophomore outside hitter Elise Silvey (15 kills, 3 digs), putting Seekford on the right side to block against Dominion’s outside hitters, who were receiving the majority of the sets. This also brought sophomore defensive specialist Megan Jolly (9 digs, 1 ace) in to play the back row for Silvey and allowed the Captains new looks on offense and defense.
“Jo’s arms just add another foot of coverage in the air, and she’s a strong, sturdy presence at the block. We went up to her and said, ‘Are you okay if we pull you from the outside and put you on the right side for block purposes?’ We’ve had that conversation multiple times throughout the season, and she’s been such a great team player to do that,” Mozeyko said. “We made that change in our lineup, and that also put Elise on the outside. We had Megan in the back row, where she did a fantastic job covering the back court from the middle back and just absolutely cleaned it up for us there.”
Despite the slow start, Loudoun County crept back in it with a 7-1 run of their own to tie it at 12-12. Arrington, Silvey, and LaRue all had kills, while the defense and aces from Popish and Jolly created additional opportunities for the Captains.
Eight more ties occurred after the one at 12-12, as Hiltner carried the offensive load for the Titans—recording a team-high 7 kills in the fourth set—and Dominion junior libero Gaby Galova (16 digs, 4 assists, 1 ace) picked up the defense. Arrington and Silvey led a steady Loudoun County attack, but the Titans gained the edge after every tie late in the game.
Smith connected with Bowles to give Dominion their first opportunity at match point. After the Captains used their second timeout, Seekford sided-out to keep the set going. Following a long rally, Hiltner delivered on an assist from Smith, and the Titans had another opportunity to close it out. But the Captains battled back yet again as Popish found Arrington for one of her set-high 8 kills.
The Titans used their final timeout at 25-25, but it didn’t work to slow down the Captains. After fighting off two Dominion match points, Arrington put the match away with a final kill for the 27-25 win.
“Charlotte pulled us out of tricky situations when we needed her to do that the most,” Mozeyko said. “She started moving her attack around more so from just the cross. She was able to hit back right and line a few times. She was able to tip, and she was able to go four-to-four often as well. Just her IQ alone, in addition to her strength and overall presence on the court, make her very versatile from that outside position.”
After coming from behind to force the match to a fifth set, the Captains were not going to let the victory slip through their fingers. They came out strong to start the fifth on a 5-1 run behind kills from three different players. Dominion strung together a few points, but Loudoun County used a 4-1 run to take the 9-5 lead.
The Titans countered with a 4-1 run of their own as Smith and Hiltner connected for a few kills. Silvey then stepped up for the Captains, going toe-to-toe with Bowles on back-and-forth kills. Although Dominion brought it within one at 12-11, Seekford ended the match on a set from Popish for the 15-12 victory.
Dominion (4-0, 12-7) will be immediately back in action on October 8 when they host James Madison and will then start their second round of Dulles District play at Heritage on October 16. Loudoun County (0-0, 11-5) will travel to Heritage on October 9 and then begin Catoctin District games at Broad Run on October 14 and against Woodgrove on October 16.
“We have one more region game on Thursday, and then we get district games started right off the bat with Woodgrove and Broad Run—two very, very scrappy teams in our district. They always put up a good fight, so we’re excited to see that part of the season start to unfold,” Mozeyko said. “We still have a lot to prepare for, but going five sets against Dominion tonight definitely helped.”