Posted on 21 September 2009 by .
by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@sbgnet.com
(804) 240-2191
There’s a new dynasty in the Central Region. Well, an old dynasty that has yet to be recognized as such.
Until Monday night when Thomas Dale’s boys volleyball team defeated Clover Hill 3-1 in a much-anticipated contest.
The Knights, participants in the three of the past four state finals, were thought to have dropped off in volleyball circles, thus their No. 6 ranking in the RVC Top 10.
Dale is ranked first in the DigitalSports Top 10, and proved it in front of a rowdy black-out Dale crowd.
Main cogs like DS player of the year Bradley Johnston and Alex Hoffman have departed, but players of that caliber have graduated before and the Knights have continued success.
That’s what coach Mike Walker Jr. wants, as he is building his program just as Steve Eliasek did with Clover Hill before retiring.
“That’s who I watched,” said Walker of the Cavaliers, as Dale is now 2-19 against Clover Hill in boys volleyball, with two straight wins. “I wanted to build my program just like theirs. They did it the right way. Won with class. As many times as we lost to them in the regionals, we should have learned something.”
Dale moved to 4-0 with undaunted power, as the Knights boast four terrific jump servers in All-DS returner Zach Seymour, libero Jake McCall, new standout Mason Vivas and holdover Donnie Hevener, who just started jump serving last week.
You couldn’t tell, as Walker lets his kids blast from the line. The Cavaliers handled it well, but the Knights took a tight game one, 25-23.
The Knights serving played a huge part in game two, as TD pleased the home crowd leading by as many as six points, and had game point at 24-22.
But the Cavaliers ran off four straight points to knot the match as middle Mark Smith started to have his way off sets from Andy Hite (32 assists).
“The second game, we gave it away,” Walker said. “It’s a young team so we are going to go through that. I think the younger kids got a real good taste of what varsity volleyball is about.”
Games three and four weren’t close. A **** by Seymour (12 kills, 16 assists and six blocks) gave Dale a 23-15 lead before winning 25-22 in the third.
The fourth was Dale’s best effort, a 25-17 triumph as unforced errors unraveled the talented Cavaliers while players like Matt Knickerbocker (11 kills, seven blocks) and setter Matt Dolan (17 assists) stepped to the forefront.
“Coming into the season, we had this game marked on our calendars,” Seymour said. “We played like a team and came out and won the game in four sets.
“The sky’s the limit for this team.”
Clover Hill 23 26 22 17
Thomas Dale 25 24 25 25
Records: Clover Hill (8-2); Thomas Dale (4-0)
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