Western rolls to title contest

STANARDSVILLE — If you’re at all familiar with the Western Albemarle volleyball team, the next few words will sound very familiar: The Warriors are headed to the Jefferson District tournament finals.
Western — which is seeking its seventh district tournament title in as many years — advanced to Saturday’s championship by rolling over Louisa County
3-0 last night in a semifinal matchup at William Monroe High School that saw WAHS dominate play at the net and at the service line.
“We did what we do best,” said Western coach Lance Rogers, whose team improved its record to 18-3 overall with a 25-11, 25-18, 25-13 win over the Lions. “We controlled the ball and gave our hitters lots of opportunities to put the ball away.”
After cruising through the first game, Western met some resistance from Louisa in game two. The Lions (11-10) battled to tie the score at 12-12 and later 16-16 before Jefferson District player of the year Sarah Harper took over with her serve. With the score knotted at 16, Harper rattled off eight consecutive points at the line to help the Warriors take a 2-0 lead in the match.
“She does a great job of serving other teams out of system and did a nice job. I thought Louisa did a great job adjusting and really played strong in game two,” Rogers said.
With so much energy spent on staying in the match in the second game, the Lions faltered in the third game as Western jumped out to a commanding 14-6 lead before shutting the door on Louisa’s season with a 25-13 win.
“Western is a good team and we didn’t handle it well,” said Louisa coach Dave Boardway. “We’ve been playing really well but a different team showed up today. This had to be our worst night of the year serving and passing but at least we know we lost to a good team.”
Describing the Warriors as “good” might be a bit of an understatement as Western looks for its seventh trophy in seven seasons. Despite his team’s success, Rogers has no worries of complacency setting in with this group of players.
“We take everybody seriously and they feel a tremendous obligation to all the classes before to not let them down. They don’t want people looking up at the wall at the banners and asking ‘what happened.’”
In addition to her pinpoint serving, Harper led WAHS with nine kills on the night. Aja Linton recorded 13 digs and Chastity Lacy came up with five kills and two stuff blocks for the Warriors. Both players joined Harper as first-team all-district performers.
Western will face Fluvanna County Saturday at 5 p.m. to decide the Jefferson District tournament champion.