Titans Advance To Final

Jones leads Cosby past James River; Monacan downs Clover Hill

By Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond

The Cosby and James River boys volleyball teams have proven throughout the season that they deserve to be in any conversion about the top teams in the Central Region.

It is unfortunate one of the teams, both which finished ranked in the top 5 of the DigitalSports Top 10, won’t be headed to the regional tournament.

The second-seeded Titans defeated the No.3-seed Rapids 3-0 Tuesday night in the Dominion District tournament semifinals at Monacan.

It was the third time this season that Cosby has beaten James River and the win locked up a spot for the Titans in the Central Region tournament since regular season champion Monacan advanced to the district final with a 3-0 victory over Clover Hill.

Each district sends two teams to the regions, the regular season champion and either the tournament champion or the team playing the regular season champ in the final.

Cosby’s final ranking in the Top 10 was fourth and they finished the regular seaon with a 17-3 record while James River was No. 5 at 13-4.

Austin Jones led the Titans with 16 kills while Grant Fields had nine kills and five blocks.

Seneca Contomanolis/DigitalSports

Austin Jones was a force for Cosby against James River.

“We’ve had three real tough, close matches with them,” Cosby coach Frank Jenkins said. “We were fortunate enough to win all three. All three could have went either way. We had some kids step it up tonight.”

Neither team could assert it’s dominance early in the first game as each team would grab the lead only to have the other go on a small run to take it back. Jones let it be known that he would be a factor throughout accounting for two of the first four Titans’ points with kills.

The Rapids’ Brian Huber would not back down though as his spikes and
blocks led James River to a 12-9 lead. But inconsistent play and some
more Jones’ kills off of Kyle Speers’ sets brought Cosby back and to a
27-25 win in the first game. Jones compiled six kills in the opening game
alone.

“Austin’s one of the best outside hitters in the state in
my opinion,” Jenkins said. “When he gets the ball he finishes and the
team really feeds off his confidence.”

Cosby started the second
game on an 5-2 run as Jake Smith, Jackson Miller (six kills, four
blocks) and Fields began to dominate the net play.

Seneca Contomanolis/DigitalSports

James River’s Brian Huber tried his best to keep the Rapids in the match.

Jones’ scoring tear
continued, at one point producing three kills in a row, and the Titans
took Game 2 25-17.

Down two games to none and losing 3-2 in the third game, James River showed they still had some fight left in them as the Rapids went on an 8-0 streak behind good play from Jake Sterger to open up a 10-3 lead.

Cosby slowly chipped away at the lead until they were able to get
within one point at 19-18 but then James River scored three consecutive
before eventually taking a 23-20 lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Titans rallied with three
straight points, one from a Matt Kipp (8 kills) **** and then claimed
the match at 26-24 on a Miller block.

“We were hyped to play them. They had been talking trash,” Jones said.

The Titans now turn their attention towards the Chiefs, a team that defeated them twice during the regular season. The match will
be at Monacan on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“They are a great team that we have not been able to beat,” Jenkins
said. “We will have to play our best match of the season to beat them.
They have a lot of weapons.

Said Jones: “We are pretty confident. We know from playing them what we
will have to do to beat them and we have the ability to beat them.”

James River 25 17 24

Cosby 27 25 26
Records: James River (13-5); Cosby (18-3)

Seneca Contomanolis/DigitalSports

Kelly Fraser prepares for a Rapids’ serve.

Monacan 3, Clover Hill 0

After ending Clover Hill’s run of 14-straight regular season championships, Monacan decided they would end one more Cavaliers’ streak.

The top-seeded Chiefs beat No.4-seed Clover Hill 3-0 in the semifinals of the Dominion District tournament Tuesday night.

The rebuilding Cavaliers’ had won four consecutive Dominion District tournament titles (beating Monacan all four times in the final) but returned only one starter, Taylor Jones, from last season’s region champion.

“I am dissapointed but at the same time I’m happy that the guys got to feel this early in their career,” Jones said. “This will make them want it more. They have a chance over the next few years to do some big stuff. I am excited for them.”

As a sophomore Jones was on the Clover Hill team that won the state championship in 2005. Now a senior headed to George Mason where he hopes to play volleyball, he thinks his early success may have spoiled him.

“Since that championship I had been expecting big things,” Jones said.

Monacan now has a chance to win their first district tournament title since 2002.

“For the most part we played well,” Monacan coach Hilary Clark said. “We won and that is what matters. We are going to take it one match at a time.”

Michael Koebel led the Chiefs with 14 kills, Neil Raetz had 24 digs and Tyler Schleinkofer had 25 assists.

Clover Hill 13 24 20
Monacan 25 26 25
Records: Clover Hill (13-7); Monacan (18-3)

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