Cox falls, but embraces journey
RICHMOND — It may have taken over 10 years and suboptimal circumstances, but a hug between Daniel Hurley and Chris Peters was long overdue.
The Cox boys volleyball team lost to Glen Allen in the Class 6 state championship 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-14 on Thursday night at VCU’s Siegel Center. Hurley tallied a match-high 22 kills.
“I’m just proud we’re here,” said Hurley, who shared a warm embrace with Peters after receiving the runner-up trophy. “It took us four years to even get here. I’ve played with Kyle (Schlaepfer) and known Chris since I was 6 years old. He’s the one who got me into volleyball and now we’re here.
“I’ve never hugged him before until now, but it felt right.”
Tears were mostly replaced by gratitude for the journey. The Falcons finished 25-2 overall and as state runner-up for the first time since 2017.
“I am extremely proud of the way we played,” Cox coach Mariellen Gero said. “I wanted to go to at least four sets and we did that, so we accomplished the goal I set for our team.”
Early on, the Falcons looked like a team making its first state final in four years. Mistakes and unforced errors piled up as Glen Allen won despite a late Cox rally.
“I tried to explain to them what it’d be like to play in this type of environment,” Gero said, “but you don’t know until you’ve been there. So I knew that was going to happen and I warned them it was going to happen, and they pushed through.”
Indeed, the Falcons responded to an 0-2 set deficit — they hadn’t lost a set since Sept. 30 against Green Run — with an efficient 25-18 third-set win.
“One thing I noticed about our team is whenever we’re having fun, we always play better,” said
Schlaepfer, who had 43 assists, “so I was like you just gotta have fun with it. There’s a point where you focus too much, and we were doing that and we had to relax a little bit.”
The momentum continued into the fourth set and a 7-3 lead before the Jaguars seized control to close out the win with defense that left Hurley scratching his head.
“I hit one cross-body (shot) 30 feet deep and I was like, ‘Why is he there?’ ” Hurley said.
Standing wide-eyed as powerful
attacks and serves failed took a toll on the Falcons.
“It was very frustrating,” Peters said. “They keep the ball off the floor. These guys are scrappy and it was getting annoying, I’ll say. It had a bit of a mental wear on our guys, I think.”
Cox had a very unusual makeup compared to years past. A perennially elite program, Cox typically has a roster full of club players. This year, half the team had never played the sport before.
“We had eight players who
never touched a volleyball before August,” Gero said. “So having these guys (Hurley, Schlaepfer and Peters) help me teach those guys how to play volleyball, that’s been the best part.”
An experience, Hurley said, will last.
“I’m not gonna forget these years,” Hurley said. “We’re gonna be friends after this starting tomorrow.”