Sunday, May 23, 2010

PVA on PrepVolleyball.com's "Court Report"

PVA teams and players are part of the May 21st "Court Report" on Prepvolleyball.com.

"PVA had a great weekend at KRVA regionals and the Bid Tournament. In the three years since Josh Steinbach became the club’s director, PVA had no won a head to head matchup of top teams with region powerhouse Synergy. Last weekend, PVA beat Synergy in four age groups.

PVA qualified 3 teams for Junior Nationals, including the 18s, who were considered the underdog to Synergy going into the bid tournament. Synergy, which features Tori Hampsher (Virginia Tech), Casey Read (Marquette), Rachel Depagnier (Cornell), Emily Carlin (Radford) and Marika Desanctis (Temple), defeated PVA Saturday in three sets in the region semifinals. Read and Carlin dominated at the pins and Synergy slowed PVA middle Katrina Pisch enough to pull out the win.

The teams met again one day later in the finals of the KRVA Bid Tournament. By reaching the championship match, both teams guaranteed themselves a trip to Reno for Junior Nationals. The only question was which division they would play in.

Both teams were missing their head coaches when the match got underway. Steinbach, the Villanova head coach, could not be on the bench for PVA because of the NCAA Quiet Period. Synergy coach Missy McLindon was coaching the 13s, who were playing in their own final, also against PVA.

Synergy ahead early in Game 1 and never looked back, winning 25-20. Game 2 was all PVA. Coach Bob Herrman moved Lauren Mobley to the left for PVA and put Swarthmore-bound Maggie Duszyk in on the right. Mobley provided the pop on the left opposite Mariah Henley in her normal hitting role as PVA took the 25-17 win.

Game 3 was 9-7 Synergy when DS Julie Joyce took to the service line. Three aces and a Henley kill helped push PVA to a 13-9 lead. When Mobley ripped one off the block for match point, the celebration for PVA was on.

PVA’s 16s team won the regional tournament on Saturday, led by outside hitters Kasey Cannon and Brooke Morris. Victoria Hammarskjold, a 6-0 setter in her first event as the team’s full time 5-1 setter, was excellent. She is two weeks back into playing after missing six weeks with mono and was the difference as PVA defeated Synergy in the semifinals and Pittsburgh Three Rivers in the Final. Megan Kaminski and Stephanie Kruzynski also had great days for PVA, which lost in the quarterfinals in the Bid Tournament the next day.

PVA 17s team did not compete for a bid to Junior Nationals. But led by Sarah Brady, the 17s reached the regional semifinals on Saturday before losing to eventual Bid winner Mizuno Yorktowne. The quarterfinal match against Valley Forge was an epic struggle, with PVA pulling out a 34-32 victory in Game 2 to seal the match. PVA was playing without emotional leader and libero Carly Steffes due to prom, but Haley Mork, who has shared the libero jersey, was spectacular on defense, allowing Brady to hit over around and through the Forge block."

The entire article is available to PrepVolleyball members at http://prepvolleyball.com/content/view/2574/381/

GO PVA!!

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