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Rams capture title in four-set victory
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By Greg Brill -- sports@nvdaily.com
STRASBURG -- Right from the start, it was evident that Strasburg was going to play with purpose.
The Rams got out to a 14-1 lead in the first set on Saturday night in their Bull Run District volleyball final with Madison County, building excitement with each point won.
"We had intensity and it was awesome," Strasburg senior dual-threat Jaclyn Ayers said. "That's how we practice, that's how we play."
A slight lapse at the end of the second set allowed Madison County to knot the match, but Strasburg stormed back to dominate the next two sets to win 3-1 (25-12, 17-25, 25-13, 25-18) and three-peat as district tournament champs.
On the opening rally of the match, Madison County's Jordan Aylor pushed a set too close to the net and Strasburg's Jenna Smoot crashed for an easy kill. In winning 14 of the set's first 15 points, Smoot, the Bull Run District's Player of the Year, provided her usual leadership with three kills and two blocks, Samantha St. Clair had three aces during a 10-0 run, and the Mountaineers had to burn an early timeout in an attempt to slow the Rams.
Madison County never got its deficit under 10 points after Strasburg's early surge and bowed, hoping things would get better in the second set.
"We just came out fired up," said Smoot, who led the Rams with 18 kills and five blocks. "We talked in the locker room before the match about how this is our house and how we wanted to defend our [court]. To take them in four [sets] is pretty impressive, because they're a great team. We were ready."
The Rams were ahead midway through the second set when a deflection off a Madison County attack forced a sideout. The Mountaineers took advantage of their sudden good fortune to reel off a 9-0 run on their way to eventually tying the match.
But when the third set arrived, the power attacks that have sparked Strasburg (21-1) on to a 21-match win streak returned in abundance. Another strong start to the set proved the Rams would waste little time recovering from their second-set letdown. A Madison County error began things, then Lauran Agnew had an ace, Ayers had a kill and Smoot had back-to-back blocks for a 5-0 lead. The lead shot to 9-1 in a hurry and Strasburg hit all ends of Madison County's end of the floor, recording 16 kills in the set.
"Our serve placement was a lot different tonight," Smoot said. "We served [to] lines and angles. We were tipping well. We hit to the corners, to the middle. Every play, it was something different."
The third set perhaps was Strasburg's best. Ayers led with five kills in the set, Smoot had four (with two blocks) and Stephanie Conde had three. The Rams also kept balls in play, missing only one serve. For the match, Strasburg collected 50 kills (with just 17 attack errors) and missed just three serves.
After the Rams came back with another dominant display in the fourth set to clinch things, Strasburg coach Suzanne Mathias could bask in her team getting back to playing the kind of volleyball that has made the program such a success over the last few years.
"I told them that's the best team effort I've seen all season," Mathias said. "I told them to come out and have fun and to play with a lot of heart and desire.
"And they did. Even with some of the [sluggish] plays in the second set, I felt they tried to stay up. They did a better job than they have with that lately."
Mathias uses an eight-player rotation in most matches, and each Ram seemed to have an impact on Saturday. Besides Smoot, Ayers (11 kills, 17 assists) and Agnew (7 kills, 23 assists) took turns setting up teammates or dropping attacks for points. St. Clair got each of her serves in play and led the Rams with eight aces. Conde had eight kills and Ally Kauffman, Meghan Gum and Casey Spiker sparked the defense with their digging on the back row.
Up next is a Region B quarterfinal Tuesday at 7 p.m. with Stonewall Jackson, the Shenandoah District runner-up. The Rams defeated the Generals twice, each time in four sets, in September.
Smoot, who along with Conde, is the last link to Strasburg's 2007 Group A championship team, hopes the Rams can keep playing well and get back to a third-straight appearance in the state tournament. Strasburg would have to win twice this week to at least clinch a berth in the eight-team field.
"It's do or die for both [teams]," Smoot said. "I think we both have something to prove. Steph [Conde] and I are trying to blaze our own trail, and we know what it's like to get there and win. We want to get back."
Madison County (13-10), which was led by Tori Puryear's 18 kills, will travel to play Riverheads on Tuesday.
Besides Smoot's selection as the Bull Run's POY, Ayers was a first-team pick, and Conde and Agnew made the second team for Strasburg.
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