Hidden Valley continued its volleyball mastery over Cave Spring Thursday night, as the Titans won the Group AA Region IV volleyball championship in 4 games, 25-15; 25-20; 21-25; 25-23.
Both teams advanced to state quarterfinal play this week, with a potential fifth meeting between the two powerhouses this Saturday. If both win matches Tuesday and Friday, the fifth meeting will be for the state championship at the VCU Siegel Center in Richmond.
Thursday night’s regional final in the Hidden Valley gym saw the Titans power their way to a pair of quick wins in the opening games.
Hidden Valley led 8-5 in the opening game before going on a 12-5 run to coast down the stretch. Game two was tied at 15 when Hidden Valley outscored the Knights 10-5 to take control 2-0.
Cave Spring broke the ice in game three after taking an early 7-2 lead before watching the Titans battle back to tie at 15. The Knights, however, regrouped with a 10-6 run to close to 2-1.
Things lookled good for Cave Spring pushing the match to a 15-point game-five tiebreaker when they opened game four with a 4-0 lead, and pushed their advantage to 15-10 midway through. But, Hidden Valley reeled off 9 straight points to take command at 19-15, and were willing to trade points to secure the clincher.
The key nine-point run came mostly on service points down the right side that the Knight defense suddenly had difficulty handling.
“It was our plan to serve to that side,” Hidden Valley head coach Carla Poff said after the match. “We needed some momentum and luck; sometimes you get both.”
“This one was much better for us tonight,” Cave Spring had coach Tamalyn Tanis pointed out. “We still need to stop giving up points in bunches. Most are from our own mistakes.”
Caroline Boone led the Hidden Valley power with 15 kills, while Jenny Clark and Madison Morris added eight each. Reliable Hannah Podeschi set the game for the Titans all night, providing 31 assists.
Alyssa McKinley had a career-best 19 kills and 16 digs as she virtually covered the court for Cave Spring. Erin Holsinger added 16 kills with Piper Roe blasting 8. Olivia Sass set the Knight attack with 40 assists.
BILL TURNER match story/photo
