The Cave Spring volleyball team stayed on a roll Thursday night in the Group 3A West final at Staunton River High School.
Coming back from a late 3-point deficit in the opening set, the Knights put the pedal to the metal in the next two to dominate Turner Ashby 25-23; 25-14; 25-10.
With the 3A West trophy in hand, Cave Spring will now host a state semifinal Tuesday night in the friendly confines of the Knight gym against the 3A East final runner-up. The winner Tuesday night advances to next Saturday’s Group 3A state final in Richmond at the Virginia Commonwealth University Siegel Center.
“Getting this win is huge for us,” Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis noted after the win. “We could have been traveling as far away as Williamsburg if we had lost.”
“It will definitely be a home game advantage,” Knights’ junior Alayna Foutz pointed out. “Hopefully we’ll have a huge turnout. That always gives our team motivation.”
Thursday night it was the Turner Ashby student body who ruled the roost at Staunton River, despite a considerably longer trip from Harrisonburg. Fortunately, Cave Spring seemed unfazed by the raucous crowd.
Turner Ashby’s team looked ready to make some noise in the first set. Breaking away from a 19-19 tie with a 4-1 run, TA led 23-20 and holding the serve. But, when the Knights got some help with a Turner Ashby service error and double hit, Cave Spring was back in business. After tying things at 23, the Klimaitis twins stuck in the dagger. Charity Klimaitis set home a kill to make it 24-23 before sister Tessa plastered a smash for the set clincher.
The momentum shift with the 5-0 run could be seen in the eyes of Turner Ashby, and Cave Spring was ready to take no prisoners.
“The first set we got on a pretty good roll and played well,” Turner Ashby head coach Gina Troyer said. “We almost won the set and if we had, you never know how the match might have gone. Even after we lost the first, I didn’t think we were down. We’ve lost one before and won the next three. We’re ready to play five (sets) if you have to. We’ve played a lot of matches recently. Right now, I think we just need to get some rest.”
“We made a defensive adjustment right at the end of game one because they kept beating us in the same spot,” Tanis said. “I told the girls to work as a team. Our passing was good to the net. We’ve got great hitters, so if somebody is hot, go to them.”
Nobody was hotter than 6’2″ junior Piper Roe.
Roe, who finished with 16 kills, 8 in the last set alone, began putting on a clinic in the second set.
Cave Spring jumped out to a 11-4 lead before a Meagan Harrison ace and Tessa Klimaitis block paved the way to a 13-5 lead. Turner Ashby closed to within 6 points at 20-14, but Cave Spring finished on a 5-0 run fueled by 3 kills.
Set three was all Cave Spring. The Knights trailed 4-2 before a point sent senior Sydney McTigue to the service line. McTigue served nine straight points, benefitting from a Roe smack-back at the 5-4 point, and back-to-back Roe kills at the 10-4 mark.
Cave Spring led 19-9 on a Tessa Klimaitis laser and the Knights finished off the match clincher with a 6-1 run.
“I went out tonight and wasn’t worried about making errors, but just being aggressive,” Roe said. “The matchup was there size-wise with me and the other two middles. Meagan Harrison’s sets were spot-on.”
“I wasn’t concerned about us being down in the first set,” Roe added. “We’ve always got the mindset they have to get to 25.”
In addition to Roe’s 16 kills, she had 5 decisive blocks. Tessa Klimaitis slammed 7 kills and 6 blocks past the TA defense. Harrison finished with 30 assists and McTigue 18-for-18 on serves to polish off the sweep.
Bill Turner
