by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond
scontomanolis@digitalsports.com
Volleyball crowds love the ****.
Every time a Thomas Dale or Deep Run player put one down Monday night a packed house at Dale erupted.
But it was the often overlooked skill of passing that ultimately led to the Knights’ 3-0 victory over the Wildcats in a match up of the top two teams in the Central Region.
“Our passing, we were on the money with our passes all night,” Thomas Dale coach Mike Walker said. “We run a very quick offense, we set it a little lower. It speeds it up and Bradley [Johnston] can get to the ball before blocks get setup.”
Johnston finished with 17 kills as the Knights (10-0) validated their No. 1 ranking in the DigitalSports Top 10 against a Deep Run team that was previously undefeated and ranked second.
“I didn’t have to run all over the place,” said Johnson, who also had 11 assists and four digs. “Everyone did a really good job tonight.”
On the other side of the net it was the Wildcats (11-1) inability to do the same that led to their unraveling. Deep Run struggled to pass and set up talented players Patrick Maloney, John Grove and Sam Denny.
“We passed horrible but they [Thomas Dale] hit the ball really hard,” Wildcats coach Kevin Pond said. “If you don’t pass well it doesn’t really matter how many great hitters you have.”
Pond pointed to the enormity of the match as one of the possible reasons for his team’s poor play. Thomas Dale, the defending state Group AAA champions, has been on even bigger stages which likely helped them to excel in front of a large, loud crowd while Deep Run faltered.
“I think even though we brought a nice group the noise took us out of it,” Pond said. “We looked like a deer in headlights at times.”
Trailing 4-1 in the first game the Knights went on a 7-0 run behind the serving of Brendan Schnell to take an 8-4 lead. Thomas Dale would increase their advantage to as much as six before Deep Run clawed back to within two at 20-18.
But Walker called a timeout and the Knights closed the opening game on a 5-0 streak, with Ethan Cammer serving, to win 25-18.
“Our serving was really aggressive,” Walker said.
Thomas Dale shot out to a 6-1 lead in Game 2 and went ahead by ten with the score at 19-9. The Wildcats would get no closer than seven as the Knights eventually won 25-16.
Game 3 may have been the most competitive game but a 2-0 Deep Run advantage to start was the Wildcats only lead as Johnston and Zach Seymour (11 kills, 19 assists) really began to heat up.
Donnie Hevener ended the match with a block to give Thomas Dale the victory at 25-22.
Though Johnston and Seymour led the way on offense six different players recorded kills for the Knights.
“That’s about where we want to be,” Walker said “That is one of the things we have tried to do, not rely on just one player. If you are going to key on Bradley our other guys will step up.”
That is what the role players for Thomas Dale have been doing all season and they did it again against a top-notch opponent. Walker hopes that his team can build of this huge victory as they try to repeat.
“It’s where you are in November,” Walker said. “This is the way we will have to play to be there in November.”
Deep Run 18 16 22
Thomas Dale 25 25 25
Records: Deep Run (11-1); Thomas Dale (10-0)
Processing your request, Please wait....
