Leesburg, Va. — All season long the Riverside High School and Independence High School volleyball teams have gone to battle whenever they face each other, and the match on November 12 was no different.In their fifth matchup of the season, the Rams overpowered the Tigers to claim their second VHSL Region 5D championship in as many years with a 25-11, 25-21, 25-19 sweep in Leesburg.
“It’s great! We never had a regional championship until last year, so it’s nice that we got it back-to-back,” Riverside head coach Reggie Cruz said. “It goes to show that the girls are really putting the work in.”
The first set started the same way as many of their previous meetings had: with a back-and-forth battle that featured five ties and strong offense on either side of the net. Independence senior outside hitter Makenzie Dvorznak (7 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace, 1 block) got things started with a couple of kills to open the set. Riverside was powered by junior right side hitter Nadiya Johnson (13 kills, 10 digs, 2 blocks), who contributed a couple kills and a block in the opening frame.
“It was really exciting, but we were also kind of nervous in the beginning,” Johnson said. “Our stomachs were bubbling, and we were anxious, but in a good way.”
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Although the set started out close, the Rams began to pull away after a 6-1 run forced an Independence timeout at 12-7. During the stretch, Riverside junior setter Sydney Ray (32 assists, 5 digs, 3 aces) found three different hitters for contributions.
“My hitters never fail to give me feedback after every single play,” Ray said. “I just make sure I adjust to them because they’re the ones who are gonna get us the points, and they really hype me up and make sure that I’m doing my job the right way.”
Out of the timeout, Riverside took advantage of a couple Independence errors and got a kill and a block from junior middle hitter Gabbie Vizek (3 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig) to go on another 7-2 run. The Rams then used a big push at the end behind a pair of kills from sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Peyton (10 digs, 3 kills, 2 aces) and an ace and a couple digs from sophomore libero Camryn Coulther (15 digs, 2 assists, 2 aces) to end on a 6-0 run and take the first set, 25-11.
“Today, we just really grinded, and we all had each others’ backs,” Ray said. “We had a lot of preparation, a lot of service drills in serve-receive, and we just had to work on our consistency as a whole because we knew that was gonna win us this game.”
One consistent force for the Rams was Johnson, who recorded 3 kills over the span of 6 points at the beginning of the second set and completed a double-double on the night with 13 kills and 10 digs.
“Nadiya has been just running on cruise control with her game,” Cruz said. “She’s trying to really finesse it, and she’s finding her way to be comfortable with the team, and she’s doing a great job with it.”
On the other side of the court, Independence was helped by sophomore setter/right side hitter Kaelyn Wharton (11 assists, 10 digs, 3 kills, 2 aces)—another double-double achiever—who opened the second set with an ace and a few assists.
But after the third tie of the set brought the game to 8-8, Riverside started to pull away thanks to a pair of consecutive aces from senior outside hitter Simone Schaefer (7 digs, 6 kills, 2 aces).
The Tigers always remained within striking distance, though, as senior setter/right side hitter Jenna Hathaway (7 assists, 4 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace) got involved in the action with a couple kills to keep the game within a couple points.
But a pair of well-placed kills from Riverside senior middle hitter Brianna Holladay (10 kills) gave the Rams their largest lead of the set at 21-17 and forced an Independence timeout.
“Brianna is a leader,” Cruz said. “She’s done research after research, and she does the scouting reports. Most of it aligns with what we [coaches]already have, but I like that she thinks outside, like as a coach and as a player, so that’s great.”
Although the Tigers received some late hope behind a couple Wharton kills and a Dvorznak block, they could never take the edge, as the Rams ended the set with a Vizek kill and a Peyton ace to go up 2-0 with a 25-21 set-two victory.
“I think we prepared for it, so we were really ready to play,” Johnson said. “And it was fun too! I love games that are neck-and-neck, so it’s exciting! In practice, we did a lot of serve and pass for serving, and we did a lot of quick plays, so we could work on tricking the defense on the other side. We did a lot of defense as well to prepare for certain plays they run that we can practice running so we can prepare to pass and be ready.”
While the previous sets started out close, the third set was all Riverside, as Schaefer recorded a pair of kills and Ray went on a 10-0 service run—which included 3 aces—to open the frame.
“I really value my serving because that’s the way that I get all these points,” Ray said. “So while I was behind the service line, I was picking which person I was gonna aim for each time, and that was it.”
The Tigers tried to dig their way out of the early hole by taking advantage of some Riverside errors and receiving contributions from Dvorznak and sophomore outside hitter Kieran Rhoton (8 digs, 5 kills). But 3 kills from Holladay over the span of 6 points gave the Rams the cushion they would ride to the end, as Johnson, Schaefer, and Holladay all finished with 4 kills in the third set en route to a 25-19 victory.
“We were trying to emphasize eliminating our errors,” Cruz said. “Independence is a very good team, so they’re gonna get their kills. But we gotta eliminate the small things on our part that we can control: serve-receive, serving on our side, not touching the net, staying clean on digs, and being in the right spot. That’s all we’re really looking at. If we can do that, we’ll do a lot better, and we executed pretty well tonight.”
Despite the loss, Independence (8-2, 17-8) will move on to play Midlothian in a VHSL Class 5 State quarterfinal on November 16. With the win, Riverside (9-1, 25-1) earned the opportunity to host their quarterfinal match on the same day against Albemarle.
“It’s very exciting to host our next game, and I feel very blessed too, because we don’t have to drive two hours,” Johnson said. “It’s good to know that we earned it and we worked hard for it.”