Ashburn (Nov. 8, 2014) – On Thursday, Nov. 6, the Stone Bridge High School varsity volleyball team traveled to Briar Woods High School where the Bulldogs (21-2) swept the Falcons (19-3) in three sets (25-22, 25-18, 26-24) to take the VHSL Conference 14 title.
“I’m very proud of our girls; it was a hard fought match,” Stone Bridge head coach Jill Raschiatore said. “They really dug in deep and were able to stay focused.”
In the first set, the Falcons took a 16-11 lead, but the Bulldogs came back from the five point deficit to take the lead. The Bulldogs quickly went up 21-18, but the Falcons were relentless and tied up the set at 21-21. After a back and forth tug of war, the Bulldogs finally took the set 25-22.
The momentum Stone Bridge gained after winning the first frame carried over to the second set which the Bulldogs promptly took 25-18.
The Falcons, however, would not go down without a fight.
Down 21-16 late in the third set, the Falcons again tied the frame at 21-21. A battle for the third set ensued when the Bulldogs widened a lead to 24-21. Yet the Falcons fought to win three straight match points and tie the set at 24-24.
With tension high, the Bulldogs dug in and scored the next two points to complete the sweep of the Falcons for the championship win.
“Briar Woods is a tough school; I knew they were not going to make it easy and even though we won 3-0, they made us fight for every single point,” Raschiatore said. “I’m very proud of my team for the way that they played.”
With the sweep, the Bulldogs avenged their previous overtime regular season loss to the Falcons.
On Oct. 21, after the Bulldogs won the first set 25-23, the Falcons came back and took the second 25-16. The Falcons then took the third 25-21, before the Bulldogs forced a fifth set when they came back to win the fourth 25-18. After a hard fought battle, the Falcons defeated the Bulldogs with the 20-18 fifth set win.
“Beating a team like Briar Woods that is so strong and has so many weapons, we had to really play some good defense,” Raschiatore said.
The Briar Woods Falcons earned a bid to the VHSL 5A North Region tournament where they swept Conference 13 No. 4 Thomas Edison in a first round victory.
On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the Falcons will travel to Albemarle High School to play in the region quarterfinals.
Winning the Conference 14 title means the Bulldogs got a first round bye in the VHSL 5A North Region tournament.
On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the winner of the Conference 15 No. 3 Mountain View vs. Conference 13 No. 2 Thomas Jefferson match will travel to play the Bulldogs at Stone Bridge High School.
“I feel like as a team we’ve really progressed, and we’ve really built up, and we’ve been working so hard in practice,” Stone Bridge junior Ashlyn Dunlop said. “Hopefully we go to states and continue to play as hard as we did tonight.”
Emma Myers is a senior at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn. Follow LoCoSports on Twitter (@LoCoSports) for up-to-date news and scores from around Loudoun County.
