Pats cruise to Commonwealth win

A win is a win.

The Albemarle volleyball team is lucky that sports mantra is true, because they certainly wouldn’t get style points for their victory over Brooke Point on Tuesday.

The Patriots battled through their own mental mistakes to take down the Black Hawks 25-20, 25-18, 25-10.

Albemarle coach Mark Ragland will take the win, but he isn’t necessarily ecstatic with the Patriots’ play.

“I thought we played pretty sloppy overall,” he said. “We didn’t talk a lot in the beginning and it showed. I think the other team was scrappy and wanted it a little more than we did tonight.”

The Black Hawks were especially scrappy in the early going, sustaining several deep rallies and matching the Patriots (14-1) point for point before finally being overpowered.

The Patriots eventually pulled away in the third game, but the Black Hawks wouldn’t give in. The Patriots finally established a balanced attack in the third game and were able to finish off the match.

Laura Gomez led the way all the way around for the Patriots tallying three kills, three blocks and one dig.

According to Gomez, the blocks might be the most crucial of her numbers.

“We’ve been really focusing on our blocking and our defense because we’re trying to make that the key to our game. Just making less balls coming over the net, limiting their attacks with blocks.”