Leesburg, Va. — After dropping two hard-fought matches to Loudoun County High School during the regular season, the Woodgrove High School volleyball team finally got the elusive win they’ve been working towards since the school’s inception with a 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22 victory over the Captains to secure their first Catoctin District title on November 4 in Leesburg.
“This is my first district championship, and it’s only our school’s second,” Woodgrove head coach Tim Rockett said. “It’s the first time we’ve ever beaten County at the varsity level, so there’s a lot of emotions going on tonight.”
To capture the win, the Wolverines relied on the experience of their seniors, as right side hitter Ella Meedel contributed a match-high 16 kills and outside hitter Cameron Krebs (16 digs, 12 kills, 2 aces, 1 assist) recorded a double-double on the night.
“Cameron has been on our team since she was a sophomore. She’s a senior now, she’s a team captain, and she was a team captain as a junior,” Rockett said. “She’s just a model of being not only competitive, but a leader and consistent. I can’t say enough good things about her.”
Woodgrove set the tone early, jumping out to a 9-2 lead behind a few kills from Meedel and by taking advantage of a handful of Loudoun County errors. But the Captains slowly crept back in it with 3 kills apiece from junior outside hitter Charlotte Arrington (15 digs, 14 kills, 4 aces)—another double-double achiever—and senior outside hitter Ana Smithson (15 digs, 8 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace) and a couple big blocks from sophomore right side hitter Kayla Luther (8 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks) to even the score for the first time at 16-16.
With eight ties and four lead changes in the back half of the first set, Woodgrove senior setters Reese Allen (26 assists, 3 digs, 1 ace) and Morgan Sher (23 assists, 6 digs, 1 ace) kept the game close by finding all their hitters for contributions in the first set and throughout the match. After defending against one Captain set point, the Wolverines used another kill from Meedel to capitalize on their first opportunity to take the first set, 26-24.
“At the beginning of the season, Ella could hit the ball hard,” Rockett said. “But now she can make the off-shots and the crushes, and all of those added up to kills tonight.”
The second set started out much like the first one ended, with six ties and three lead changes as both sides went on small runs. Arrington led the Captains with a couple kills and back-to-back aces, while Krebs stepped up her game in the second with 3 kills over the span of five points.
The final tie occurred at 12-12, and then Loudoun County took over, going on an 11-3 run that featured a couple more kills and another ace from Arrington and a block and a kill from junior right side hitter Josephine Seekford (6 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs).
Although Krebs tried to get her team back in it with a couple more late kills, the Captains took the second set 25-20 and evened the match 1-1.
“After the second set we talked about staying focused in every play, keeping the energy up, and celebrating after every play because it gives us momentum,” Krebs said.
Woodgrove came out firing in the third, as they went on an 8-1 run to open the set and established the early lead. Once again, Meedel came through for the Wolverines, scoring a set-high 6 kills. Allen also got the middles involved in the action, as senior middle hitter Regan Alford (7 kills, 1 block, 1 dig) and junior middle hitter Coco Mercker (7 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig) each recorded 3 kills and a block in the set.
“We started the season with good hitters, but we’re ending the season with hitters who have multiple shots, and that’s really what we worked on—line, cross, roll—and managing your shots to get more consistent,” Rockett said. “And that’s what they did tonight.”
The Wolverines had a balanced attack in the third set, receiving contributions from all of their hitters, including senior outside hitter Jackie Colucci (13 digs, 9 kills, 2 blocks, 2 assists), who had a bit of a slow start offensively, but got hot in the third set behind 4 kills and a block. Ultimately, Loudoun County was not able to overcome the early deficit, as Woodgrove led the whole set and came away with the 25-20 victory.
“We really worked on being super consistent and fixing the things that were problems in other games,” Krebs said. “Previously, blocking had been a problem for us, and we’ve been working on it a lot, and we fixed that tonight and it helped.”
The opening of the fourth set featured a back-and-forth battle as the teams traded kills, blocks, aces, and errors until the final tie of the night occurred at 7-7. After that, Woodgrove went on a 6-0 run that included 3 kills from Krebs that were all dished out by Sher.
The Wolverines were anchored defensively by sophomore libero Anjy Ary, who had a match-high 21 digs that kept rallies alive to give her team more opportunities. Woodgrove maintained their lead through the middle stretch of the fourth set with 2 kills each from the heavy arms of Meedel and Colucci.
But Loudoun County wasn’t going down that easily, as junior libero Isabella DeWan (15 digs, 2 aces, 2 assists, 1 kill) provided a spark with scrappy defense and a free-ball kill, which she followed with an ace. Arrington then recorded a kill and an ace on either end of a 6-1 run, and Smithson contributed a kill and a block to bring the Captains to within one at 20-19.
Woodgrove continued to side-out, though, and was helped by a couple late kills from Mercker, including the game-winner at 25-22 to seal the deal and the 3-1 match victory for the school’s first Catoctin District championship and the first district title since 2015 when the Wolverines won the Conference 21A championship over Sherando.
“We were really consistent,” Krebs said. “We hit around the block, we got our block up, and we focused really hard on serve-receive.”
The teams will now face off against Dulles District foes, as Loudoun County will host Heritage, and Woodgrove will travel to Dominion in VHSL Region 4C semifinals on November 7.
“The head coach at Dominion, Phuong Tat, and I are friends, and I think that makes the next game even more important,” Rockett said. “They have a great complement of hitters, including a fantastic middle, so we need to really focus in on how we’re gonna defend that combination of outside and middle at the same time. That’s what we’re gonna focus on for the next couple of days.”