Friday, November 06, 2009
Patrick Henry's Patriots reach higher in Western Valley District volleyball tournament
Extra work in practice pays off for Patrick Henry in the district championship game.
Patrick Henry coach Patricia Sheedy raised the nets six inches during Patriots practice the other day to help her team with their blocking.
The result -- Patrick Henry hosted a block party in capturing the Western Valley District tournament championship by defeating the Franklin County Eagles 25-21, 26-24, 19-25, 25-20.
The Patriots (15-7) recorded 30 blocks in the match including 26 in the first two games to defeat the Eagles for the third time this season.
PH will host a Northwest Region game against Osbourn Park on Tuesday, while Franklin County will travel to Forest Park for their regional match up.
"We focused on blocking in practice the other day," said Sheedy, who's team scored 21 points off blocks in the four games. "We worked on nothing but blocking, we are a young team and every day we are learning something new and today it was blocking."
Leading the block charge was sophomore Cathy Ren with 11 rejections, while WVD Player of the Year Liz Brailsford added five. This helped the Patriots, the regular season champions build a two games to none lead over their district neighbors to the south.
Franklin County (11-11) made an adjustment towards the end of the second game that almost got the Eagles even after two. But the Patriots used a 4-0 run to end the second game behind two of Brailsford's 20 kills to go ahead 2-0.
The adjustment became even more apparent in the third game as the visitors from Rocky Mount cut the games deficit to one.
"We started switching it up a little bit," said Eagles coach Mindy Bowman, who was named district coach of the year. "We started setting the ball a little closer to the net where our hitters like it and setting it shorter not allowing their blockers to get there quick enough."
The change helped outside hitters like first team all district selection Jordan Templin record 22 kills, including six in the third game. Sadie Wallace added 12 kills.
Patrick Henry bounced back with a balanced attack in the final game.
Along with Brailsford's four kills in the final game, freshmen Sarah Miller and Tricia Jessee, who combined for 18 kills in the match, showed the future is bright for the Patriots.
A third freshman Caroline Brailsford added 38 assists, six aces and five blocks.
"We had a typical third game loss which is what you get with a young team," Sheedy said. "We played a great fourth game. They stepped up, I am very proud of them."
