It may not have the same excitement, but both Albemarle coach Mark Ragland and his players needed a break from the five game gauntlets. One week after rallying down from 0-2 to top Colonial Forge, the team’s third five-game match in four Commonwealth District games, the Patriots got just that as they made quick work of Brooke Point with a 3-0 sweep, 25-9, 25-9, 25-18.
“Five games and five games — it was nice to get a bit of a break there,” Ragland said. “It’s always nice to get a lot of the young players in, there’s nothing like getting them court experience.”
Albemarle opened both the first and second games with a 10-3 lead before widening the margin to double digits as Brooke Point struggled with the Patriots’ serve and hard hitting seniors Megan Napolitano and Stephanie Strauss. With the match comfortably in their favor, Albemarle was able to work in most of its lineup, something they hadn’t had the luxury of doing in previous matches.
After struggling mightily with self-inflicted errors in the first two games, the Black Hawks were able to give the Patriots and its rotation of substitutes a more competitive third game. Albemarle held a comfortable three point lead through the midway point. After the deficit stretched to nine, Brooke Point was able to close to within six, but Albemarle did not allow the Black Hawks to get any close and they shut the door soon there after.
“It felt like we were a lot more relaxed and confident out there,” said Patriots sophomore Jessica Block. “It was also nice to be able to play a lot people that haven’t really had a chance to play much. It’s fun to play in those kind of games every once in a while.”
Napolitano led the Patriots with nine kills while Strauss had six. Junior Kelly Barker and sophomore Rachel Faulconer each had three. Block had 12 assists and nine service points in a light night of work as she split time with Savannah Morse.
This week Block’s remarkable streak of consecutive serves inbounds came to an end at 147. The setter has been near perfect since the season began as 98 percent of her serves have fallen in play.
“It kind of comes naturally,” Block said. “I’ve been hitting a ball against the wall since I was nine…You try to think about it and with my first serve, I try to take a little bit off it just to make sure that it gets in.”
It’s something that appears to run in the family. Until Abby Hendrix set the current record last year by one, Block’s older sister, Sam, held the Patriots career ace record with 164 between 2004 and 2006.
Albemarle (11-3) will play Patrick Henry and Loudoun Valley on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. respectively.
