Leesburg, Va. — Entering the final game of the regular season, the Tuscarora High School volleyball team was hoping for a win on their home court to celebrate senior night. But Loudoun Valley had other plans, as they found their groove late in the first set and never looked back en route to a 25-21, 25-19, 25-17 sweep on October 28 in Leesburg.
“I think sometimes when you play away and it’s senior night and you’re sitting, it takes kids a little bit longer to get into the match and get in the flow of the game,” Loudoun Valley head coach Carmel Keilty said. “I was proud of them. I think all the kids did a really good job adjusting, and it’s never easy, especially this late in the season, so I was proud of them for that.”
The first set started off as a back and forth battle, as both teams went on short runs to open the match. With nine ties and six lead changes, neither team let the other get too much of an edge. While blocks, aces, and scrappy defense—behind a game-high 11 dig effort from junior libero Kaitlynn Scott—kept the Huskies in it, the Vikings tested the defense and eventually found holes to put more balls away, doubling up Tuscarora 14-7 on first-set kills.
Loudoun Valley started to pull away down the stretch, thanks to a couple consecutive kills from sophomore outside hitter Olivia Cypcar (12 kills, 3 digs). Although a kill and a block from Tuscarora senior middle hitter Reese Johnson (5 kills, 3 blocks) gave the Huskies some late hope, another Cypcar kill put the game out of reach and gave the Vikings the early edge, 25-21.
“It’s been a progression between both of us to work to get quicker sets,” Loudoun Valley senior setter Ava Moll said of the connection she has with Cypcar. “We’ve definitely been working a lot on running go’s and shoots and 32s.”
After finishing the first set without recording an ace, Loudoun Valley opened the second set with back-to-back aces from Moll (24 assists, 7 digs, 5 aces, 1 kill) and another one from senior outside hitter Julia Helm (5 kills, 4 aces) a couple plays later to force an early Tuscarora timeout at 6-1. The Huskies took advantage of a couple errors from the Vikings to bring the set within one, but then Loudoun Valley senior defensive specialist Bailey Doherty recorded all three of her aces during a 6-0 Vikings run.
“I think we just knew what places to serve to,” Moll said. “Our coach was giving us spots too, and everyone just thought hard about it and knew who the weakest players were on the other side.”
In addition to 3 kills apiece from Cypcar and senior right side hitter Lauryn Wade (7 kills, 1 block) early in the set, Loudoun Valley got contributions from junior middle hitter Ella Stevenson (5 kills, 1 block) following some personnel changes in the second set. A 5-0 run featuring a couple Stevenson kills, a Moll ace, and a Wade block put the Vikings up 20-11.
“I switched my middles to adjust to their one middle [Johnson] who is very good,” Keilty said. “She can put the ball down and was tipping, so I switched the middles and then I adjusted my defense just a tad. We didn’t do anything fancy, but we did a really good job adjusting.”
The Huskies responded with a 5-0 run of their own as senior outside hitter Ella Kemp (4 digs, 3 aces, 1 kill) got involved with a kill and an ace, and senior outside hitter Riley Lorber (7 kills, 7 digs, 1 ace) contributed with a kill. Sophomore setter Olivia Laird (13 assists, 5 digs, 1 ace) found all of her hitters for contributions throughout the second set.
But another pair of consecutive Loudoun Valley aces—this time from Helm—put the Vikings up 23-16. Although Tuscarora made a late push with a couple kills from Johnson, it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit, and Loudoun Valley went up 2-0 on the match with a 25-19 set-two victory.
“We had to bring the energy up for the team,” Moll said. “I think we were kind of down in the beginning, but then everybody started getting up. There were a couple plays that were big points, and everybody got excited for that, which brought up the rest of the game.”
The third set had a start reminiscent of the first, with five ties and four lead changes. Cypcar remained consistent for Loudoun Valley, recording four early kills on sets from both Moll and senior libero Kenzie Farrey (8 digs, 5 assists, 2 kills). But the Vikings started to pull away halfway through, as they held steady on defense—limiting the Huskies to just 4 kills on the set—and took advantage of some Tuscarora errors.
A 5-0 run down the stretch brought Loudoun Valley to a 19-12 advantage, but Tuscarora responded out of a timeout to go on a 5-0 run themselves. Senior middle hitter Dejsha Williams contributed with a block and a kill to bring the Huskies within 2.
But it was all Loudoun Valley from that point on, as the Vikings used a 6-0 push—featuring a couple more aces from Moll and a pair of kills from Wade—to end the set and the match, 25-17.
“Tuscarora is an excellent team,” Keilty said. “I don’t think their record, or our record, is indicative of some of the matches we’ve played. We’ve been in so many, and I’m sure they have as well.”
With the victory, Loudoun Valley (3-5, 5-14) ends the regular season tied with Heritage for third in the Dulles District. Following the results of a tiebreaker, Loudoun Valley will be the No. 4 seed in the Dulles District tournament and will host fifth-seeded Tuscarora (1-7, 2-20), as the teams meet for a second time in as many days for a district quarterfinal on October 29.
“I think the mindset has to be: be aggressive,” Keilty said. “You just hope that the team comes with the mindset of, ‘Hey, it’s another game; we’ve got an opportunity to move on,’ and I think it would be fun to move on to another district tournament game. We have to just do what we’ve been doing and hope for the best.”
Derrick Jerry & Jace Lucas captured 150+ photos at the game!