Click STAR to Recommend Story
Asterisk Denotes Breaking News
Gate City bars Rams from title
|
By Jeremy Stafford -- jstafford@nvdaily.com
RICHMOND -- Both teams needed the point.
For Gate City, a point would send them to the Group A state championship; for Strasburg, a point simply would keep the Rams alive in the fifth set. After that, Strasburg still had to score another point, and then another.
Up went the Gate City serve, and down came a spike from Strasburg senior Jenna Smoot. Rams senior Jaclyn Ayers came down as well, but landed in the net.
No whistle.
Relief streamed over Ayers: She got away with the net violation. Smoot smiled and raised a celebratory fist.
Then the whistle rang. Ayers crumbled to the floor, and Smoot turned toward the referee, who gave the match point to Gate City. Smoot gasped for air. Then she, too, fell to the floor, her eyes drowning in disbelief.
After fighting Gate City back-and-forth in that fifth set, the Blue Devils managed to eke out a slim 3-2 (30-28, 15-25, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14) victory in the Group A state semifinals at the Siegel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"It's like a dream right now," Ayers said, "I don't believe it's really over."
In a fog, in a daze, Ayers couldn't remember pulling herself off the floor, or lining up at the net to congratulate the same Gate City team that had beaten Strasburg in the state championship match a year ago.
"When we worked as hard as we did during the game -- you know, we scrapped and played, and there were a lot of good plays -- and to go out on a play like that, it's hard, and I wouldn't wish it on any team," Smoot said. "It's frustrating -- I think I can honestly say this is the best we've played all season, and rightly so: It is the state semifinals.
"I think that we proved that we deserve to be here."
And if there was any advantage to be had coming into the match, it surely must have gone to Gate City. Though the Blue Devils were a young team, they were a squad that had seen Smoot and Stephanie Conde play for the past three years, and had seen Ayers and Lauran Agnew play last season. For Strasburg, Gate City should have been somewhat of a mystery.
Instead, the Rams seemed prepared for everything the Blue Devils threw at them, and it was Gate City that seemed surprised by Strasburg's play.
"They were a lot more aggressive than I've seem them in the past," Gate City coach Amy Reed said of Strasburg. "They were a lot stronger, a lot better as a team this year, and obviously their players wanted it, 'cause they were relentless.
"They fought back, they didn't give up."
Agnew, perhaps more than any of the other Rams, was especially surprising to the Blue Devils.
Agnew fired off four kills in each of the first three sets, and totaled 14 kills in the match. But she wasn't simply powerful at the net, she was also crafty, touching kills into Gate City's defensive holes, then rocketing kills to the floor when those holes were filled.
After the match, the tears in her eyes were more revealing than the words she spoke.
"I think that [Gate City] thought I was just going to be the setter," Agnew explained. "They didn't think that I would get as many kills as Steph [Conde] or as Jenna [Smoot], and it just felt good to go out there and show them that I can hit and place the ball just as good as they can."
After giving up the first set, the Rams strolled through the second set in what was one of Strasburg's most dominating performances of the season. Consecutive blocks by Smoot gave Strasburg a commanding 13-6 lead, and an Ayers ace, followed by kills from Agnew and Conde, stretched the Rams' lead to 24-12. A service error by Blue Devils senior Brittany Simpson ended the set 25-15.
But it was hardly the Rams' most impressive set of the afternoon.
Down 15-7 in the third set, Smoot whistled consecutive kills through the Gate City defense, and Ayers later added two more, pulling Strasburg to within 18-15. Three kills in a row by Agnew put Strasburg up 24-22, and Conde ended the set with a final kill.
"That shows how good of a team [we] are," Rams coach Suzanne Mathias said. "We were down ... and we came back and won that ... and I'm proud of them.
"But there's nothing I can say as a coach right now to help them. They've just got to feel this and deal with it and know in the back of their minds that they're still top four in the state, and that's an accomplishment in itself."
Strasburg went up 18-14 in the fourth set, but relinquished that lead when Snydee Snapp rattled off four service points for Gate City.
And indeed, it was the Gate City serves that proved to be Strasburg's bane Friday afternoon. The Blue Devils had 12 aces, five of which came from senior Lindsey Burke, whose serve Smoot said "floated, twisted -- it did everything."
"I think her serving gave them momentum on several different occasions," Smoot said.
Strasburg gave up another lead, this time an 11-7 advantage in the fifth set, before Ayers' net violation was called, ending the match.
Ayers contributed 12 kills Friday, while Smoot and Conde each had nine. The Rams combined for 49 kills and 12 blocks.
"I think we could have done it," Conde said. "I mean, we fell short, but I'm proud of my girls, and I'm just glad that we made it this far."
0 
For the Strasburg Rams from a fan in the Shenandoah Valley:
You fought the hardest you could. You did the best you could. No one can take that away from you. Don't be ashamed of the result.
You never lost a match in September, October and half of November. That's an accomplishment.
Very few teams make it to the state round three years in a row. That's an accomplishment.
I don't doubt for a second this hurts. It will hurt for a little while. But soon you will realize what you accomplished and smile the biggest smile.
And those people smiling back at you: Your family, your friends, your coaches, your fans. They adore you. And they are so very proud of you. I am, too.
Congratulations on an outstanding season.