The Hidden Valley volleyball team are the defending Group 3A state champions.
Thursday night it looked like an upset may be in the works.
Rallying from a first game loss, the Titans regrouped to take the next three on their way to 20-25; 25-16; 25-20; 25-19 win over River Ridge foe Patrick Henry in the Patriot gym.
The opening game had the partisan PH crowd excited after the Patriots pulled away from an early 7-7 deadlock. Despite early service errors, Patrick Henry took a 18-13 lead, then took advantage of a pair of Titan service errors down the stretch to secure the opening game win.
Hidden Valley righted the ship in game two. With the score tied at six, the Titans got their power game on track to go on a 11-5 run. That put Hidden Valley in position to swap points and cruise to the 25-16 victory that knotted things at 1-game each.
The Titans followed suit in the next two games, gaining the advantage midway through on their way to the five point win in game three and six point margin for the match clincher.
Hidden Valley, which had dropped its River Ridge opener against Blacksburg earlier in the week, improved to 9-2 on the season. PH fell to 4-6.
Sophomore Drew Freeland set the table for the Hidden Valley attack, notching 39 assists. Soph Taylor Gray and senior Sarah Mitchell were the main beneficiaries, launching 12 and 11 kills, respectfully.
Sophomore Taylor Eichelberger led PH with a match-high 18 kills, with junior Abby Wolpert adding 11 kills. Junior setter Olivia Pullin tossed up 33 assists for the Patriots.
Bill Turner
