What you see is what you get with the Stonewall Jackson volleyball team.
The six players that step on the court for the first serve are usually the same six players that walk off the court after the final point is scored. Bench players are rarely used, but it seems to be working out just fine for the Generals, who are one win away from the Group A state tournament.
Stonewall (20-3) plays Altavista in the Region B semifinals today at 6 p.m. in Orange.
Stonewall coach Keith Cubbage said he likes the fact that he can count on all six of his starters to play at a high level throughout an entire match.
"There is no strategy," he said. "You want the best players on the floor."
Those players are Brittany Clem, Katie Griffin, Lorri Griffin, Shana Ryman, Jessica Showman and Katie Tusing. Each player is a senior except for Clem, a junior.
While other players have seen action at different spots during the regular season, the rotation has pretty much been set in stone during the playoffs. In the Shenandoah District tournament semifinal against Page County, Brandy Miller came in for Lorri Griffin, but hasn't been on the court since.
It may surprise some, but Miller understands her role and doesn't mind being a rarely used backup. She knows her time will come.
"We're a team," the junior said. "We've been friends for such a long time. It still helps me prepare [for next year]."
If Lorri Griffin keeps playing the way she did against Strasburg in the Region B quarterfinals Wednesday, she won't need to be rotated out.
She had seven aces against the Rams, including three in the final four points of the match.
"[Miller] has been doing a good job coming in for Lorri," Cubbage said after the Strasburg game. "But would you pull her out tonight?"
Miller is one of eight players that form "the bench buddies." It used to be nine until senior Kim Leitzel quit the team following the district tournament.
At the start of the season Leitzel started for the injured Ryman, who was out with a broken hand. But midway though the district schedule, Ryman was inserted back into the starting lineup and Leitzel saw minimal playing time.
"It didn't work out the way she thought or something to that effect," Cubbage said Leitzel's departure. "I hate to see it happen."
Lorri Griffin said being taken out of a game is a form of motivation. Over the past few weeks, she's proved to be the most lethal server on the team, even though her sister, Katie, has served 365 times this season without missing.
"I just know that's what I have to do," Lorri Griffin said. "I used to sub in and out earlier in the season. It keeps the intensity level up out there."
With the same six players on the court the entire match, fatigue should come into play. Not with this group. Not with the kind of conditioning they go through each day in practice. It's not the kind of conditioning one might think, though.
"We're not much on running because we do a lot of fundamental conditioning drills," Miller said.
Added Showman: "Of course it's going to wear you out. [Cubbage] does a good job of keeping us in shape."
With a maximum of just five games left in the season, Cubbage isn't about the change anything. That kind of momentum is hard to stop, he said, and he's going to dance with the one that brought him. Especially in the case of Lorri Griffin.
"Nothing against Brandy," he said. "If we win or lose in the tournament, I want Lorri in there."
As usual, Miller understands and can only do her job when she hits the floor.
"It's a real opportunity when I do get in there," she said. "I have to pick it up as much as them, but they respect me even when I mess up."
