Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Terriers overcome potent hitter in win
William Byrd exploits Rustburg's poor service returns to advance to the Region III quarterfinals.
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William Byrd's volleyball team almost had to break out the football helmets and mouthpieces.
Rustburg sophomore Michelle Heath was that dangerous.
Heath served cannonballs and smacked lasers at the net with her rocket right arm, but Byrd withstood the barrage Monday night for a 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 25-14 victory over the Red Devils in the opening round of the Region III tournament.
The Terriers (12-11) will play at Southern Valley District champion Fort Defiance tonight in a quarterfinal after escaping Heath's powerful hitting including a topspin jump-serve that gave Byrd senior Kayln Molnar one thought.
"Oh my gosh, I better just stand here or sort of lay down on the floor and let it hit me," Molnar said. "It was so hard, I couldn't even see the ball. It was pretty crazy."
Byrd sophomore Macie Hoback was equally leery.
"It was scary, but she's not a team and I think we held our part," Hoback said.
Undoubtedly so.
Taking advantage of Rustburg's poor service returns and the occasions when Heath was stranded on the back row, Byrd raced out to huge early leads in all four games.
The Terriers held four match points in Game 3 before the Red Devils extended the match with six straight points, the final two on kills by Heath.
"We're still a young team," Byrd coach Amanda Stump said.
"Those pressure situations, whether you're on top or not, you can be 20 points ahead and be ready to win a state championship and then let it go.
"The girls did a fantastic job. They really pulled together."
Hoback had the play of the night when she not only dug out one of Heath's kill attempts in the backcourt, but angled it for a winner.
"I was just hoping I could get that up and get something out of it," Hoback said.
Samantha Webster had 12 kills, five digs and five blocks -- two against Heath -- to lead Byrd. Setters Candace Brady and Nicole Frey combined for 31 assists. Madison Gensurowsky added five kills.
Heath had 22 kills for Rustburg.
Rustburg struggled all night to put serves in play. Many of the passes that did not hit the floor were sent back over the net for easy putaways by Byrd.
"For some reason, no matter what team I bring to this gym we have a problem with serve-receive," Rustburg coach Kristen Hardie said. "It was not on tonight."
Rustburg not only lost the match, the Red Devils had two players -- senior Shannon Glass and freshman Tayla Glass -- put on street clothes after Game 2 and watch the rest of the match from the stands for reasons Hardie did not want to explain.
It was a bittersweet evening for Stump, who learned after the match that her grandfather, George Stump, had died earlier Monday.
Byrd's players offered solace to the coach in the locker room.
"It means a lot to me," Stump said.
"We're like a family. That helps out a lot."
