by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
(804) 240-2191
Loudoun Valley pulled a Mills Godwin on Mills Godwin.
The Vikings used terrific play at the end of games three and four, usually Godwin’s strength, to advance to the state Group AAA final with a 3-1 win Thursday night at VCU’s Siegel Center.
LV will face South County, who registered a tight 3-2 victory over Frank Cox, Saturday at 2:30 p.m. back at VCU for the ultimate hardware in high-school girls volleyball.
“Unfortunately tonight, we had the lead in game three and game four and we just couldn’t figure out a way to close it out,” Godwin coach Jason Garrett said. “Very impressed with a strong Loudoun Valley team. Especially their two big hitters, [Morgan Clark] and [Lindsay Phipps]. We tried to slow them down. Unfortunately, there at the end they were able to score huge points against us.”
Clark and Phipps, two hard-hitting six-footers, chewed up 37 kills combined.
Down 20-17 in the third game, with both teams with a set in their tights, everyone other than Clark and Phipps did damage, leading the Vikings on an 8-1 run to close out a momentum-building game three 25-21 on setter Nicole Bennett’s push. Her main game is assists, and she had 51 of those.
The Eagles responded behind their usual senior corps, as Maggie Murphy (19 kills, 15 digs) continued to score over bigger defenders, Meghan Meleski (32 assists, two aces) kept the offense humming and Jill Sedlar (10 kills) was her consistent self.
It all earned another advantage for Godwin, this time 21-17 as Eagle fans were getting prepared for a fifth game.
But Vikings libero Kristen Martin (18 digs) put in an ace and **** in an 8-3 run as Valley won 26-24.
“We made some changes in the middle of the game,” LV coach Laird Johnson said. “When we were able to get on the right page, our back line was able to get to some of those balls.”
Murphy agreed.
“Their defense is top-notch,” Murphy said. “They’re really good.”
So are the Eagles, who went further than anyone could have expected, beating taller opponents on heart, execution and stifling, frustrating defense.
It won the Eagles Colonial District and Central Region tournament titles, but couldn’t yield the biggest trophy of them all.
“We definitely had a great run this year,” Meleski said. “We knew coming in only good teams were left. We just came up short.”
Mills Godwin 20 25 21 24
Loudoun Valley 25 23 25 26
Records: Mills Godwin (21-6); Loudoun Valley (22-5)
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