Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Titans, Knights to face off for River Ridge District volleyball title
varsity.roanoke.com
Timesland on Twitter
Two matches brought the balance of the River Ridge District volleyball season into its sharpest focus of the year.
It was really very simple after top seed Cave Spring smoked Christiansburg 25-10, 24-14, 25-18 and host Hidden Valley held off Blacksburg 25-21, 25-17, 25-22 in a semifinal twinbill Tuesday night.
When the four teams reconvene Thursday on the Titans' floor, the Knights will play the host team mostly for pride while opponents Christiansburg and Blacksburg will be playing for their volleyball lives. Cave Spring and Hidden already have berths in next week's VHSL Group AA Region IV tournament assured. Only the winner of the Bruins-Blue Demons match will be allowed to join the postseason party.
The Knights, playing as a No. 1 seed, disposed of Christiansburg for the third time this season. Cave Spring was never really threatened. It took less than an hour to settle the issue and the Knights subsequently made haste to depart the premises and continue with the remainder of their evening.
The matchup with Hidden Valley will certainly involve no secrets between the well familiar teams by now, Titans coach Carla Ponn Poff's tinkering with her lineup notwithstanding. Cave Spring has won both previous engagements this year.
"We really need to get that team aspect into it," Hidden Valley outside hitter Samantha Klostermann said. "We're playing like individuals right now and six individuals isn't going to win."
Hidden Valley changed up its defense against Blacksburg and that seemed to do some good. The Bruins were within striking distance late in both the first and third games but could not make a play that might have turned the momentum.
"We can get stuck in a rotation for a lot of points and Hidden Valley isn't the kind of team that you can just slack off on," Blacksburg coach Angela Marshall said. "You have to earn it so you don't have to come back and fight for every point. ... When we get stuck in a rotation like that, it makes it difficult to fight and come back.
"When we have our moments, we can get it done. But we have to learn to play through the whole match."
Still, the Bruins managed to keep some pressure on the Titans until the end.
"We needed to make smarter decisions," Hidden Valley's Sarah Church said. "I think that was the one thing. Sometimes we try to do too much instead of relax and concentrate on the game of volleyball and do what we can do."
Klostermann and Church teamed for 15 kills, eight by Klostermann. Church added four aces and a pair of blocks.
Kim McDow boosted the Titans defenses with 16 digs.
Nevertheless, the disappointment in their play as a collective seemed to cloud some of the players' enjoyment of the victory.
"In the locker room we were happy to get to the next round but it's not as satisfying because we just didn't play our best," Klostermann said.
Players predicted it was almost going to be like the season was just starting.
"We're going to treat it like the beginning of the season and like it was our first practice tomorrow," Samantha Ringer said. "In the beginning of the season, we were a strong team, really nice to each other. We need to refresh and restart."
