Leesburg, Va. — The region championship match is not new territory for the Loudoun County High School volleyball team. With eighteen region titles already under their belt, the Captains geared up to fight for another when they met with Dominion High School in the 2025 VHSL Region 4C championship on November 11 in Leesburg. Although the match was tied 1-1 after a close couple of sets, Loudoun County sealed the 25-19, 21-25, 25-19, 25-12 victory by taking over in the third and fourth sets for their 19th region title.
The Captains showed they were ready to compete by jumping out to a 6-0 lead behind three kills from Catoctin District Player of the Year senior outside hitter Charlotte Arrington (17 kills, 16 digs, 1 assist). The Titans responded with a 6-1 run as senior outside hitter Amaya Bowles (8 kills, 7 digs, 2 aces, 1 block) recorded a kill and an ace and Dominion took advantage of a few Captain errors.
Loudoun County senior outside hitter Jo Seekford (14 digs, 8 kills, 1 block, 1 assist) got involved on offense with a kill and on defense with a block and a set-high nine digs as the Captains rebuilt the lead behind a 5-1 run. Senior libero Isa DeWan (24 digs, 7 assists, 5 aces) also contributed on defense with eight digs as the Captains implemented a new defensive scheme in preparation for the Titans.
“We actually switched our defense around, so we’re doing a rotational defense now. Our middle back will pull all the way over to the setter, and then I’ll take the deep seam while our outside hitter, Charlotte or Jo, will take the cross where I would usually stand,” DeWan said. “I found that that worked so much better this game. Our defense was solid the whole game, and it showed on the court. This game was much better than last time [we played Dominion], so I think we might stick with it for the next couple games.”
But Dominion countered once again as junior setter Ingrid Smith (28 assists, 13 digs, 3 aces, 1 kill, 1 block) connected with senior outside hitter Megan Hiltner (17 kills, 12 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace) for three of her set-high eight kills to tie it at 13-13 and again at 14-14.
But that’s the closest the Titans would come as the Captains used a 6-1 run to reclaim the lead for good. Although the teams went back-and-forth trading points after that, Loudoun County continued to side-out behind kills from four different players and ended the set 25-19 as junior setter Morgan Karle (13 assists, 9 digs) found junior middle hitter Sydney Miller (8 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace) for the winner.
“We had a great night offensively. Setters did a great job moving the ball around, even with the back row attacks,” Loudoun County head coach Sarah Mozeyko said. “If we messed up, we were quick to fix it. Our right sides were totally locked in tonight with their offense and their defense on the net. So being able to have them in our offensive rotation with our setters was another key thing that we used.”
Despite never leading in the first set, Dominion minimized their own errors and benefitted from some Loudoun County miscues to jump out to the 8-5 advantage in the second set. However, the Captains bounced back as Arrington recorded three consecutive kills on a 5-0 run.
The Titans snagged the momentum back after a 10-2 run put them up for good. During the stretch, Bowles contributed three kills and an ace, and Smith served for two aces to take over the lead. Dominion junior libero Gaby Galova (18 digs, 1 assist) picked up the defense with six digs to extend rallies and give her team more opportunities.
Despite five different Loudoun County players recording two or more kills in the set, the Titans rode the momentum to the end and finished with another pair of kills from Bowles for the 25-21 victory to tie the match.
Although Dominion held an early lead in the third, it was completely erased when the Captains scored eight unanswered points behind back-to-back kills and a block from junior right side hitter Kayla Luther (5 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig). Loudoun County increased their lead to as many as eleven points as extended rallies—kept alive by the defense of DeWan and Arrington—led to several Titan errors.
Dominion fought to get back in it as a few kills and a block from senior right side hitter Mila Antonov (7 kills, 1 dig, 1 block) and additional defense from Galova and senior defensive specialist Gaby El-Kari (10 digs, 1 assist) provided extra opportunities, but 22-17 was as close as they would get.
The Captains shut down the Dominion attack, limiting the Titans to just six kills in the set and a negative team hitting percentage en route to a 25-19 third-set win.
“We switched up our defense to form more to Dominion’s attack zones. They really like that 1/6 seam and angle corner, and they like their tip balls as well. So we switched our defense around to a rotational defense with our setters taking a lot of the tip balls, and the girls honestly loved it,” Mozeyko said. “We did a great job defensively shutting down the outside hitters, recognizing and taking away Dominion’s strength, which is their outside hitters. [Bowles] completely blows the ball away. She’s a very powerful hitter, so once our block was able to shut her down and take away those vantage points, it made a complete difference.”
Loudoun County established the early 4-0 lead in the fourth set as senior setter Claire Popish (20 assists, 14 digs, 1 kill, 1 ace) recorded an ace and Miller notched a kill. DeWan built on the lead with a pair of consecutive aces to put the Captains up 9-2.
Although Bowles responded with a block and a kill, Loudoun County got their middles running more as junior middle hitter Alexa Dekenipp (7 kills, 4 digs, 1 block) recorded two kills to put the Captains up 12-5.
“We were able to slow practice down a little bit and separate our hitters at one point with our setters. So we put in a lot of time offensively, and we were able to get that setter-middle connection and that setter-outside connection and utilize the right side in the third and fourth sets,” Mozeyko said. “We really push the narrative of set the middle, set the middle, set the middle. That way it draws the block away from our outside hitters.”
Dominion put up a solid fight as Smith found Hiltner for four kills over six points, but 14-10 was the closest the Titans would come. DeWan then took control from behind the service line, as she served two more aces on a 7-0 run to put the game even further out of reach.
“I just noticed we were up a couple of points, so I was trying to serve short and kind of mix up my serve,” DeWan said. “I would serve deep and then I would serve short because it mixes up the other team. It’s something that I like to do when we’re up because it’s easy points.”
Dekenipp contributed another kill as well as a block, and the Captains cruised to the 25-12 victory, which earned them the right to host their VHSL Class 4 state quarterfinal match on November 15.
“It’s exciting! Everyone wants to go to states so badly, so we’re all really pumped,” DeWan said. “We’re all trying our best, putting our best in at practice, so I hope it goes well, especially because it’s at home.”
Despite the loss, Dominion (8-0, 18-9) will still have a shot to compete for the state championship when they travel to three-time reigning state champion James Wood for a quarterfinal on November 15. Loudoun County (6-0, 21-5) will host EC Glass the same day, as all teams will battle for the coveted prize.
“We love hosting. Obviously, we don’t want to get on the bus if we don’t have to, especially when you have schools that are three hours away from us,” Mozeyko said. “So being able to host in our home gym is a beautiful advantage to the game, and hopefully we can get the W on Saturday and continue our journey through states.”