Digging through 1A North
McDonough volleyball tops Patterson Mill for third straight region crown
The McDonough volleyball team are heading back to the final four of the Maryland state tournament once again.
Friday night, the Rams claimed their third straight Class 1A North Region championship after defeating visiting Patterson Mill of Harford County in four sets, 25-16, 13-25, 25-23 and 25-19.
The teams split the first two sets, but McDonough (4-12
overall) was able to close out the last two sets to take the match. Patterson Mill was the No. 2 seed in Section I of the 1A North bracket.
The Rams advanced to take on Perryville of Cecil County on Tuesday night for the 1A state semifinals at University of Maryland’s Ritchie Coliseum in College Park. Washington
County’s Smithsburg, the twotime defending 1A state cham- pions, and The SEED School of Baltimore competed in the other 1A semifinal contest earlier on Tuesday.
McDonough fell to Smiths- burg in the state final last sea- son in straight sets.
Despite losing a plethora of tal- ented seniors a year ago, Rams head coach George Hadden and the Rams are back in a familiar spot to compete in a very com- petitive state tournament.
“It feels wonderful to see the joy in my girls faces after win- ning our third straight region- al championship,” said Mc- Donough head coach George Hadden, whose team swept Fairmont Heights of Prince George’s County in Wednesday’s Section I final. The Rams were the top seed in the threeteam section. “Early on they had their doubts, but I kept telling them, ‘Practice hard and keep our defense strong and we can do it again.’”
Leading the offensive attack for McDonough was senior Trinity Jones with 12 kills. Ra- chel Cox finished with eight kills and Lauren Davis had five, while libero Celeste Driver added four.
Driver had a team-high 28 digs and Teya Regala finished with 13. Sarah Chen delivered with 26 assists to lead the Rams and also had four aces as did Davis.
“Returning to states for the third straight time is a great accomplishment for our team. I can say, I pray we learned a little each year to hopefully win this time,” Hadden said. “Perryville and Smithsburg are two formidable teams. Hopefully they lost some of the seniors from last year and may be a little weaker. If our defense can outdo their powerful offense, we may have a chance. It’s going to be tough and it all depends on their will to want to win.”