Madison County takes out Eagles

By Dennis Atwood -- sports@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- The third-seeded Madison County Mountaineers faced a familiar foe when they lined up across the net from second-seeded Clarke County in a Bull Run District tournament semifinal match on Thursday.

The squads split their earlier head-to-head matches, and tied with 7-3 district records.

A week off didn't seem to bother Clarke County as it won the first set, but Madison County took the next three sets for a 3-1 win (21-25, 25-12, 25-19, 26-24).

All four of the Eagles' first offensive points in the opening set were aces -- one by Chelsea Nelson to open the set, followed by a trio from Amy Hagerdon (match-high17 kills), and four aces) as Clarke built a 6-2 lead.

An Eagles service error gave a side out to the Mountaineers and their third point. They responded with four more, on a soft spot kill by Ellie Hill and two deep spikes by 6-foot-2 senior middle hitter Tori Puryear (12 kills, three aces, two blocks).

Neither squad got more than a 3-point lead until the scoreboard showed a tie at 16. The Mountaineers then committed two errors and two player violations to one by the Eagles, who gained a 20-16 advantage.

The Mountaineers (13-9) bounced back with a kill by Samantha Cubbage and a kill and net-topping ace by Hill (five kills, three aces), while Nelson smacked a power-alley kill for the Eagles to create a tie at 21.

Madison's first service error and an attack error, followed by Hagerdon's third kill of the set, gave the Eagles a 24-21 lead. A Mountaineers attack error was the set-winner for the Eagles.

In the second set, momentum abandoned the Eagles as they lost focus and committed nine attack errors and a service error to create a 17-12 deficit.

The Mountaineers then rode an 8-0 run, as Cubbage held serve and laced an ace, Puryear got three kills and junior setter Jordan Aylor (27 assists, three kills) got the set-winning kill on a hit from a faked setting move.

"[Aylor's] a first-year setter, so you can see the talent she's picked up just in this year," Mountaineers coach Lindsay Von Herbulis said.

The Mountaineers closed out the third set with a 6-1 run, with two aces by Hill, including the set-winner.

The fourth set was closely contested throughout, with neither squad scoring more than three consecutive points.

The Eagles (11-8, 7-4 Bull Run) got six kills and an ace from Hagerdon, two kills and an ace from Molly Keesling and a kill from Clara Thiel among their first 20 points.

The Mountaineers' offense was provided by two kills each from Puryear and Cubbage, and kills by Cameron Farmer, Hill and Aylor, who also made two down-blocks, in reaching 19 points.

The next 10 points at this crucial point in the match were scored on errors and player violations -- six by the Eagles and four by the Mountaineers.

Puryear smacked a hit into the net and stomped her feet on the floor in frustration as she gave the Eagles their 24th point. The Eagles returned the favor by knocking a hit beyond the baseline for an attack error, giving the Mountaineers their 25th point.