Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Fluco volleyball team under Coach Christie Harlowe-Garrett came into its home match with the Albemarle Patriots on March 18 with a 4-0 record. Unfortunately, the visiting Patriots proved to be the stronger team on this evening. The main difference was that the Patriots were able to get more runs of consecutive points than the Flucos were.
In a high school volleyball match it is best three out of five games up to 25, win by two, for the first four games. If a deciding fifth game is required, it is played to 15 points. The games go quickly, as a point is awarded on every serve.
For instance, in the first game, the Flucos took a 3-2 lead on a kill shot by junior Sophia Denby. The Patriots then went on a twelve-point run to take a commanding 14-3 lead. The Flucos finally won a point on Albemarle’s serve to make the score 14-4 and senior Lindsey Ward served for three points to close the score to 14-7. The two teams then went back and forth for the rest of the game, scoring eleven points each. As a result, the Patriots won the first game of the match 25-18.
In the second game, the Flucos again fell behind early, trailing 8-2 after the first ten points. A Fluco kill shot, followed by a service ace by senior Molli White reduced the lead to four. Albemarle lengthened the lead back to six at 12-6. Fluco junior Khania Brassfield made a clever soft shot to an opened area for a 12-7 score. The Fluco scored two more points to close the gap to three, but the Patriots responded with a run of five points to lead 17-9. The Flucos were unable to close the gap at all, and lost the second game 25-13.
Down two games to none, the Flucos hung in, but the outcome of the third game was the same as the first two. The Patriots came away with 25-15 for the 3-0 sweep of the match. This game was tied after ten points at 5-5, but the Patriots scored the next six points for an 11-5 lead. As this game progressed, Denby had a couple of forceful kill shots, and Brassfield also recorded a strong kill shot, but the Flucos could not close the gap once they fell behind.
Coach Harlowe-Garrett noted after the game that Denby had a strong game. The statistics bear that out. She had eight kill shots. Brassfield had four kills and a block at the net. Sophomore Faith Shields recorded five kills and had 16 assists. Ward who is the team’s libero did exactly what is expected of that position, recording 21 digs.
