Albemarle and Western’s volleyball clashes over the years have often been the highlights of the Jefferson District slate, but an early season clash Tuesday showed the advantage an experienced Patriots squad had over a Western team that’s replacing an entire team.
Albemarle rolled 3-0 to the win, leaning on some excellent passing to get the job done efficiently.
“When our passing is really on, we do really well,” said Albemarle senior Danielle LaRosa. “We’re trying to take advantage (of having a size advantage at the net) with our passing, when it’s on, our hitting is on.”
Albemarle rolled 25-14, 25-11 and 25-20 to secure the win with LaRosa notching 5.5 blocks at the net. Adalee Lynch led the Patriots’ offense with 11 kills while Katie Schnell had eight, Gabbi DeGennaro had seven and Madison Warlick had six in a balanced offensive effort. DeGennaro also chipped in four blocks while Lynch had 3.5.
Bridget Pinnata handled the bulk of that passing, with Pinnata notching 14 digs (to go with four aces) while Kelsey Marks had 30 assists. The Patriots’ passing has seen a noticeable uptick over the last two matches.
“We’re getting there, the other night against Powhatan we had our best passing night I’ve seen in the last three or four years, we were on fire,” said Albemarle coach Mark Ragland.
That solid work on the back line and at setter by Marks sets the entire table for Albemarle.
“When we pass, we’ve got enough weapons at the net, if we stay aggressive, that we can do some damage,” Ragland said.
Western, for its part, returned just one player from last year’s region playoff squad, Cassidy Wilson, who shifted from middle to outside. That’s led to some early growing pains and made Albemarle a particularly tough matchup Thursday.
“We knew they had a much more experienced squad than we do — good ball control and their size intimidated us a little bit,” said Western coach Ron Pack. “But I was proud of how we fought back in the third set and stayed with it.”
Wilson had four kills and 12 digs in the loss for the Warriors. Sarah Rhea led the Western attack with seven kills while Abby Johnson and Caity Driver had four kills each. Abby Boitnott had 16 assists while Amber Parker chipped in 12 digs.
