Before they face undefeated Western Albemarle on Thursday, the William Monroe Greene Dragons volleyball team got one last tune up as they faced a tough Orange County team on Tuesday. Although remarkably young, the Dragons sure didn’t look like it as they rolled past the Hornets 3-1, 25-10, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18.
Monroe (6-3, 3-1 Jefferson) came out hot in the first game, working the ball all over the court and jumping out to a double digit lead quickly. But Orange struggled in game one, the second was a drawn out battle between both sides, as neither team led by more than one or two points for the first three quarters of the game.
“I think we took them a little lightly,” said Dragons coach Denise Hoffman. “You can’t do that with anybody and especially for us. Any given day we could be bit so we have to step up our play.”
The Hornets eventually gutted out the win to tie up the match, but couldn’t keep up with the hard hitting Dragons in the next two games as Alex Cave, Ally Troutman and Sarah Moyer took over.
“Sometimes when we lose a game we get a bit,” Cave said. “We didn’t tonight. We got fired right up and were able to go out there and play really hard in game three and four.”
Cave, just a sophomore, was all over the court and played a role in every facet of the game. When she wasn’t working the backline and cleaning up on sets, she was getting the job done at the service line.
“She’s all around good and a big talker on our team,” Hoffman said. “She’s something to see. She’s going to be something really special.”
Serves were the problem for Orange. In games one and three the Hornets struggled to put their serves in play which only wound up fueling an already excited Monroe attack.
“Our serve receive was way off tonight,” said Hornets coach Angela Pace Forth. “Normaly we’re a lot more solid in that area.”
Cave led all players with 13 kills while also piling up 13 digs, 15 service points and four aces. Haley Dodd put on a passing clinic with her 32 assists. Paige Breeden chipped in 18 digs while Brittany Bridgewater contributed eight kills.
For Orange (6-4, 1-3), Emma Chronister finished with nine kills, three blocks and two aces while Jessika Morris led the defense with 13 kills. In many ways it was nice for the Hornets to work through the game without injury. On Thursday against Louisa County, Chronister and Morris collided hard mid-match. The crash left Chronister with an open wound on her forhead and snapped back one of Morris’ teeth.
“I think we’re still getting over the jitters on defense after that accident,” Pace Forth said. “Hopefully we’re ready to get back in there. Everybody’s out there and everybody’s okay. I am happy we were able to get one victory today.”
Orange plays at Fluvanna on Thursday at 7 p.m. while Monroe hosts Western at the same date and time.
