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Richmond repeat: Strasburg headed back to capital for state semifinals
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By Jeremy Stafford -- jstafford@nvdaily.com
STRASBURG -- Strasburg coach Suzanne Mathias could only learn so much about Northumberland prior to the Rams' Group A state quarterfinal match against the Indians on Tuesday night.
A handful of Region A coaches, whose teams had faced Northumberland during the course of this season, fed Mathias a few pointers concerning the Region A runner-up. The e-mails largely reported that the Indians lacked height, played a perimeter defense, and struggled, at times, with their serve-receive.
But Mathias and the Rams could only trust those scouting reports so much, and they could hardly stroll into a match against Northumberland with the supreme confidence that they were rightly prepared.
"We really didn't know as much as we would like, so I think we were a little nervous," senior hitter Jenna Smoot said.
But as the mysterious Northumberland team took the floor for warmups, Mathias' worries were slowly relieved. It became obvious that while sisters Diane and Sarah Kelly were strong players for Northumberland, the Indians had only two threatening points of attack: Ashleigh Robinson and Whitney Rock.
Still, it wasn't until Strasburg coasted to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-17) win that Mathias, behind a gaping smile, issued that long-awaited sigh of relief: "I can finally breathe," she said.
And for the third consecutive season, Mathias, Smoot and senior Stephanie Conde will return to the Siegel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, site of the state semifinals and championship matches.
For Smoot, the return to Richmond never gets old, and the euphoria of being a state semifinalist never fades.
"It's surreal, no matter how many times you make it back, it's still very cool," she said. "I've played varsity for three years and we've made it back every single year, and I think that's one thing that you never expect, but you work really hard toward."
Perhaps just as surreal for Smoot and her fellow seniors, were the final few minutes of their final home match of the season, when the Rams led the Indians 24-17, and a thunderous Strasburg crowd roared, "V-C-U, V-C-U."
"I think when our fans started the VCU chant, it kind of all came rushing back to us -- we're really thrilled to go back," Smoot said.
The match finally ended when Conde, who undoubtedly had the strongest performance of the night, strung an ace off the arms of Robinson.
Conde had eight kills in the match, as did Smoot, but was probably most effective from the service line. In the second set, Conde saw five consecutive service points, as a 12-6 Strasburg lead ballooned to a 17-6 Rams advantage. Her first serve of the run was a manageable one, meant only to stay in play. But her next four serves, all of them jump serves, boomed over the net before quickly plummeting to the floor. She scored two aces, forced a Northumberland error, and flustered the Indians defense enough for Smoot to notch two kills in the spurt.
With the help of Ally Kauffman, Strasburg scored 10 aces, essentially confirming that the Northumberland serve-receive was dubious. But there was still the matter of the Indians' defense, and whether or not they really played along the perimeter.
When Strasburg setter Lauran Agnew approached the net and surveyed the Northumberland side of the court, Strasburg's final concerns evanesced: Agnew saw that, in the gut of the Indians defense, was a gorgeous ocean of beige hardwood.
"We came out here and we saw they were running perimeter, and the big hole in the middle, we just tried hitting it," Agnew explained.
"It's just something that I saw -- I told Jenna, "Go right behind the block, it's wide open."
"I saw it a lot, they were just all on the end lines of the court."
Agnew and Smoot pounded the middle of the court, Agnew accounting for four of Strasburg's 24 kills. But try as they might, the Indians couldn't afford to collapse to the middle and close the gap, not with Jaclyn Ayers (five kills), a first-team all-state player last year, striking kills at the corners.
"I talked to a team and they told me that the defense ... leaves the center open, so if you can see how deep they're gonna play, and what they give you, you just go at it and attack it," Mathias said. "I feel our girls do a good job at reading the floor and finding the open holes."
But though the Rams are expectedly ecstatic to return to Richmond, they also understand that their season goals are far from accomplished. A year ago, Strasburg lost to Gate City in the state final, a defeat that Smoot admits still sticks to the back of every Rams player who experienced the loss. With a 3-1 win over Radford on Tuesday, Gate City advanced to the state semifinals, and will meet a Strasburg team seething for retribution.
"Gate City is good, obviously from last year, and they lost a lot of seniors, I know," Agnew said. "But I'm sure they're still gonna be really good, and we just have to be ready Friday, 'cause they're gonna want to come in and win again."
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