Every single time, winning the first game has been no help for Albemarle or Colonial Forge.
“It’s amazing, we’ve played three times and whoever had won the first game has lost the match,” said Colonial Forge coach Keith Mesa.
Forge made it a trend Monday night, bouncing back from a game one loss to grab a 3-1 victory over Albemarle in the regular season championship playoff game. The win gives Forge the No. 1 seed in the Commonwealth District tournament set to start later this week.
Forge’s block stepped up against Stephanie Strauss after the Albemarle senior had a big first game, clamping down on her over the last three frames. But according to Mesa it wasn’t an adjustment, just execution.
“We changed that in practice — in the first game we just weren’t executing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Mesa said. “When Brooke Kelley is in that right front she needs to close the block on the middle hitter with our middle, and in game two she started paying more attention to detail. When you’ve got 6-foot-1 Ashleigh Glassie blocking with 6-foot-2 Brooke Kelley, it’s hard to get over that group.”
While the Colonial Forge block had an impact, Albemarle’s struggles in the passing game sunk the Patriots late. Albemarle held a lead 17-14 in game two, 7-3 in game three and 6-2 in game four. But every game, the Patriots unraveled down the stretch with a string of hitting errors that allowed Colonial Forge to take the lead and grab a win.
Two straight errors when the Patriots were up 22-21 late in game two helped Colonial Forge grab a 25-22 win and even the match.
“It was really costly, there were times where we were hitting free balls back over—against a decent team you can not send a free ball back over,” said Albemarle coach Mark Ragland. “We were sending three and four over on some rallies — it’s just something we’ll just have to keep trying to address.”
In game three, Colonial Forge reeled off 13 straight points to take control, but Albemarle rallied back with Strauss at the service line and Megan Napolitano coming up with a string of kills. A borderline call on a Strauss serve, however, cut short the late rally and gave Forge the 25-21 win. Then in a see-saw game four with five lead changes and several ties, Albemarle again unraveled late, with multiple errors contributing to a 5-0 run to finish in Forge’s 25-20 win.
Strauss still managed 15 kills and two blocks, a couple of steps behind Napolitano’s 18 kills and two blocks. Jessie Block had 34 assists as the sophomore marches toward Abby Hendrix’s single season program record.
Colonial Forge got 12 kills out of rightside hitter Brooke Kelley while outside Sara Warford had 10 kills. Glassie, a junior middle, had arguably the biggest impact with five critical blocks for the Eagles. Libero Jenna Ulizio came up with 13 digs and Gabby Myers dished out 25 assists at setter.
“Our kids kept fighting and they didn’t go away,” Mesa said. “It’s probably the hardest we’ve played all season.”
Albemarle will play in the Commonwealth District quarterfinals Thursday night at home.
