Warriors come up short
Unbeaten Calvert earns four-set win over La Plata
Prior to Tuesday night’s volleyball match at La Plata High School between the Warriors and the visiting Calvert Cavaliers, some technical difficulties prevented the national anthem from being played.
Instead, many in attendance joined in singing it themselves, a moment that Calvert head coach Tim Smith found especially touching given the recent circumstances in the countr y.
His team provided some more enjoyment by night’s end, as the Cavaliers left La Plata’s gymnasium with their unbeaten record intact after earning a four-set win over the Warriors by scores of 2826, 21-25, 29-27 and 25-21 in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference nondivision match played in front of a large, boisterous crowd.
“Definitely was a good effort,” Smith said. “It was an exciting atmosphere, exciting match for both sides. Kids were going crazy, fans and the kids on the court. That’s the atmosphere we’re always looking for. It’s fun to play that way.”
La Plata (5-2 overall) opened the match on fire, quickly winning the match’s first five points on Ava Krahling’s serve. Calvert (7-0) won six of the next seven points, including a four-point run with Mya Spaet serving, to pull even at 6. But while the Cavaliers were able to pull even on a number of occasions in the opening set, the Warriors maintained control and
eventually secured a couple of set points, ahead 24-22.
Staring at a 1-0 deficit, the visitors regrouped to pull even and finally took their first lead of the set, 25-24. It took a few more points, but Calvert finally claimed the opening set 28-26 on a Brooke Young shot to complete the rally.
“We all trust each other so much, on and off the court, actually,” Calvert’s Rachel Black said. “We know even if we make a mistake we’re going to pick ourselves up the next play and we’re there for each other.”
Calvert enjoyed a slight edge for the majority of the second set and was just four points away from taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, leading La Plata 21-19. But then the Warriors made their own rally, scoring the next six points, including the final four on Loryn Cottle’s serve, to square up the match with Devin Ruble hammering the final point off Calvert fingertips to bring the set to its end.
The third set again found the teams needing a few extra points, with both teams eventually fending off set points. Finally, wiith the score tied at 27 a block by Zaiera Duckett gave the Cavaliers a 28-27 edge and they won the next point to close out the set. The Cavaliers won the fourth, and ultimately final, set in relatively comfortable
25-21 fashion to close the match.
For Calvert, the win was another big step in a season that has already had a few, notably wins over Leonardtown and Huntingtown. Coming into the season, none of the players in Calvert’s program had even enjoyed wins over those two schools. Adding a road win over another quality program only adds to the momentum.
“It was super-exciting,” Black said. We’ve been preparing for this game all season, since Leonardtown and Huntingtown. We’ve never beat those two since we’ve been in high school . ... Since then we’ve been preparing for La Plata. It’s super-exciting to beat them. We lost our first set [of the season] this match, but that’s not a big deal. We still ended up pulling out the win and we showed so much teamwork and heart.”
The match was also significant in terms of what is still down the road. Calvert and La Plata are in different divisions in SMAC and could potentially square off again for the SMAC championship, but they also both reside in the Class 2A South Region and would figure to have to get past one another to reach the state tournament.
“I think coming into this game La Plata is a team we see not only in SMAC, but also in sectionals and regionals,” Calvert’s Kelly Shannon said. “I know that for a lot of the seniors going into this game we’re thinking, ‘We’re going to see them later on.’ We really
needed that reassurance, that boost to know that we could do this.
“Just seeing the team work that hard, we have a lot of underclassmen on the team that are coming up, it made me very excited for the rest of the season and the seasons that are coming. Everyone just showed a lot of heart. It was a very proud moment for us.”
La Plata came out on the bottom end of Tuesday night’s decision, but was just four points short in the point differential for the match. So the Warriors, who are scheduled to host St. Charles at 5:30 p.m. today, are confident they can hang with Calvert if and when
the teams see each other again.
“We definitely played well,” La Plata head coach Ashley Buchanan said. “Our defense was fantastic and definitely picked up in the second and third sets. We just need to minimize errors. That third set I think we had five serving errors and two hitting errors back-to-back. That definitely broke momentum and kind of turned the game around.
“We definitely have high hopes. We’ve been working super, super-hard this year. We have a lot of returners and everyone jells really well. We can rely on a lot of different people, not only on the court but on the bench. I think looking
forward when we see Calvert again it might be a different outcome.”
Calvert is scheduled to host McDonough at 5:30 p.m. today, and has a huge match versus Northern that will likely decide SMAC’s Chesapeake Division title on the horizon on Oct. 12. And though the Cavaliers came out with an emotional win at La Plata on Tuesday, it also served to spotlight some kinks that the team still needs to iron out.
“I have all the negatives in my head,” Smith said in the moments after the match, “but I want to enjoy that we’re 7-0 and enjoy all the positives. But we’re giving away a lot of points and missing a lot of serves. I think our passing was a little bit up and down . ... I think once we’re making that first touch successfully, our setters are doing an awesome job distributing the ball and hitters are being smart and mixing it up a little bit.
“One game at a time, one step at a time. It’s good, but the way we talk to the kids is every match is one more step towards the playoffs and we just need to keep working on the stuff we need to work on. It’s always nice to get wins, but we have our laundry list of things to work on and some things to clean up before we play them again.”