ALTAVISTA — The Strasburg volleyball fans who made the three-hour trip to Altavista for the Region B championship match barely had time to settle into their seats before heading back home with the championship hardware.
Seniors Jenna Smoot and Jaclyn Ayers combined for 26 kills and 15 blocks in the Rams’ 25-17, 25-18 25-21 sweep of the Colonels on Saturday.
Altavista (17-8) will travel to Region A champion Mathews on Tuesday in the Group A state tournament quarterfinals. Strasburg will host Northumberland, the Region A runner-up.
“The kids are disappointed as they would be after any loss, but we get to play again on Tuesday,” Colonels coach Debra Spencer said. “If you told us at the beginning of the year we would be playing in the state tournament, we would have taken that.”
Smoot, a 5-10 hitter, had 15 kills and nine blocks. Ayers, a 5-7 setter/hitter, had 16 assists, 11 kills and six blocks.
“(Smoot) is on a mission to get us as far as we can go,” Rams coach Susan Mathias said. “Our seniors are really stepping up and playing well. They just don’t want it to end. I think we are peaking at the right time.”
“We were beat by a better team tonight,” Spencer said. “They have a lot of experience, a lot of postseason experience and very good players. They are a very good team and they outplayed us.
“We just didn’t have an answer for (Smoot). She’s been a first-team all-state player before and can really carry them.”
Strasburg (24-1) blitzed Altavista in the first two games. The Rams scored the first five points in the first game, built an 8-1 lead, and had their biggest lead at 19-11. The closest the Colonels got after Strasburg’s initial run was at 20-16.
The Rams scored the first four points in the second game and had their largest lead at 15-3. Altavista was never closer than six points.
“Volleyball is definitely a game of momentum and to come out fast and strong is definitely an advantage,” Mathias said. “I think if you can get a team back on their heels a little bit and they can’t come up on you as hard as they regularly would.”
The Colonels rallied for the third game by jumping out to a 4-0 lead, but Strasburg won the next four points to even the score. From there the teams traded the lead seven times and had six more ties until the Rams took the lead for good at 17-16.
“Our kids played hard,” Spencer said. “Hopefully, (we can build off that third game). It hurts now, but we’ve still got an opportunity to play and there’s only eight single A schools still playing and we are one of those eight. We’ve got to be ready to play Tuesday.”
Andra Brumfield led Altavista with nine kills and seven digs, Kristin Gibson added six kills and eight digs and Lindsay Mayberry distributed 20 assists.
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