Leesburg, Va. — Since dropping a couple matches to Briar Woods and Lightridge the first week of the season, the Independence High School girls volleyball team has been on a five-game winning streak. With the second half of their Cedar Run District schedule just around the corner, the Tigers were hoping to continue the momentum when they visited Loudoun County High School on September 14 for a non-league match. After a competitive first two sets which left the match tied at 1-1, Independence jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in both the third and fourth sets to claim the 25-20, 19-25, 25-17, 25-18 victory in Leesburg.
“We’re doing mental training this season, which I think is really beneficial,” Independence head coach Haley Johnson said. “We have done a really good job of letting a set go and moving on and restarting every point, so it’s been good.”
Both teams came out strong, as the first set featured eleven ties and six lead changes. Despite there being very few rallies and some errors as the teams settled in, Loudoun County established the upper hand behind a couple kills from sophomore right side hitter Ava Wiese (6 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace). But Independence quickly countered, as junior middle hitter Victoria Liakos (9 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace) contributed a few kills and an ace to turn the tide in favor of the Tigers.
“I try to look at the block and find a hole, and if I see a hole, I just tell myself to swing. Even if you hit the block, just swing, because it will intimidate them,” Liakos said. “And if I do see a closed block, I look at the court and find an open area to put the ball.”
A 6-2 run gave Independence the largest lead up to that point at 13-10. But a kill from Loudoun County senior middle hitter Sydney Miller (8 kills, 8 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks) to side-out, followed by a Miller ace and a couple kills from junior outside hitter Elise Silvey (9 kills, 5 digs, 1 block) on a 5-1 run gave the Captains the slight edge again at 15-14.
Independence freshman outside hitter Leyla Landry (16 kills, 13 digs, 4 aces, 1 block) got involved in the action with her first kill of the night to put the Tigers up 16-15, but Wiese and Loudoun County senior outside hitter Brooke LaRue (8 kills, 8 digs, 4 aces, 1 block) each recorded a kill to swing the advantage back to the home side.
Two aces from Independence junior defensive specialist Ellis Filyaw (5 digs, 3 aces, 1 assist) coupled with a Landry block and a Liakos kill put the Tigers in the red zone at 20-17. Although the Captains fought to come back with a couple late points, kills from Independence senior right side hitter Kaelyn Wharton (11 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace) and Landry ended the first set, 25-20.
The Tigers started the second set on a 4-1 run, as freshman setter Abigail Melendez (18 assists, 3 aces, 1 dig) found Wharton for three consecutive kills. Loudoun County responded with a block from LaRue followed by kills from three different players as senior setter Morgan Karle (27 assists, 5 digs, 2 aces) connected with her hitters. A pair of LaRue aces completed the 6-0 run to put the Captains up 7-4.
Two Captain aces and a couple kills from Silvey brought the game to its largest margin thus far at 12-7. But Independence came storming back on a 9-3 run to take their first lead since the opening points. The Tigers took advantage of some Loudoun County miscues as well as aces from Filyaw and Landry and a couple well-placed balls from Liakos to reclaim the lead.
“I usually see the libero and whoever’s in the other corner pull in,” Liakos said. “So if I see that there’s a deep corner open, I’ll always try to go for it.”
The advantage was short-lived, though, as the Captains strung together five straight points, including back-to-back LaRue aces. Loudoun County widened the gap even more thanks to a Miller kill and a Silvey block to reach set point. Then junior middle hitter Sami White (5 kills) sent a ball to the back corner to end it 25-19.
Landry and Wharton combined for six kills to start the third set, as Melendez recorded a handful of assists as well as an ace to give the Tigers the 7-2 lead and force Loudoun County to burn a timeout early.
The Captains fought to erase the deficit and earned back-to-back kills from Silvey, the second of which came after a long rally featuring a handful of balls dug by Miller in the back row to keep the play alive. An ace from Miller brought the Captains to the closest margin they would see in the set at 7-6.
But from there, Independence took over. Sophomore setter Caroline Calaluca (21 assists, 7 digs, 1 kill, 1 block) connected with Liakos and Landry for kills, and the Tigers benefitted from several Captain errors on an 8-2 run, which led Loudoun County to use their final timeout as a last-ditch effort.
“We all just decided that we needed to communicate better as a team and not to individualize it as much as we were,” Liakos said.
Back-to-back Landry kills out of the timeout gave Independence a ten-point advantage at 19-9. Although the Captains strung together a few points on a Karle service run with two aces, Landry brought things home for the Tigers, adding two more kills to her set-high 9 kills for the 25-17 victory.
“Leyla has really pushed her way into the lineup,” Johnson said. “At first I challenged her on if she could play defense and if she could serve-receive, because with my outsides, that’s the biggest tool. And she’s continuously found her way into the lineup because she can serve and serve-receive and play defense. She’s a great addition to our team.”
Much like the third set, Independence got out to a quick lead in the fourth set, as Melendez found Landry and Wharton for kills, freshman middle hitter Ella Peay (3 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig) recorded back-to-back blocks, and three consecutive Landry aces gave the Tigers a 10-1 cushion. A couple Wharton kills extended the Independence lead to 12-3 and put the Tigers in complete control.
“Something that we’ve been focusing on this entire season is to focus on us. How can we control the match? And in the end, it was serve and serve-receive,” Johnson said. “[In the second set] our serve-receive dipped, and we weren’t defending balls. Our offense was so good. So we focused on our defense and on our serve-receive and trying to give all the effort that we have and just push through. And they carried that into the fourth set.”
The teams traded points and small runs through the middle of the set, but Independence always maintained at least a six-point buffer. The Captains attempted a late comeback behind the efforts of Miller, Karle, and Silvey, but the deficit was too much to overcome, and the Tigers won the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
“Tonight’s win and all of our non-district games really prepare us for beating those top teams in our district,” Johnson said. “From last season to this season, we’ve seen tremendous growth: being able to reset and come into a season focusing on us. So I’m really happy with where we’re at after the first round of district games, and we’re pushing ourselves to finish at the top of the district.”
Up next for Loudoun County (0-0, 2-5) are a couple of non-league matches on the road at Paul VI on September 16 and Millbrook on September 17. Independence (4-0, 7-2) will look to continue the win streak during district play when they travel to Unity Reed on September 15 and Patriot for the second time this season on September 17.
“We just have to remember that it’s a mental game,” Liakos said. “Patriot is a really tough team, so when we’re playing them, we have to remember that if we put our full mental toughness on the court, it will show off, and if we play how we practice, we know we can do it.”