Seton School blanks Hampton

By Dan Clendaniel For the News & Messenger
Published: November 4, 2008

Seton’s volleyball team carried a certain amount of anger into Tuesday’s Virginia Independent School Division II state quarterfinal against Hampton Christian.
The Conquistadors had lost their most recent match in five games to Fredericksburg Christian for the Delaney Athletic Conference tournament title and wanted the visiting Lady Warriors from Hampton Christian to have to pay.
But instead of starting the match with a bang, Seton began with a thud, losing the first six points to the service game of Hampton’s Bethany Johnson.
From that point on, however, Seton dominated the Lady Warriors and captured the match in three games, 25-17, 25-13, and 25-16.
The Conquistadors now advance to the state semifinals at Liberty Christian High School in Lynchburg on Friday. The state finals will be at Liberty Christian on Saturday.
Seton’s 6-foot-1 Marion Lozano said the slow start brought her to anger. But that was OK, she said, because she plays better when she is mad.
Behind the serves of Sarah Sewell and Lozano’s domination of the net, Seton stormed back to take an 8-6 lead in the first game and coasted to the win. The Conquistadors (19-7) trailed just one more time in the match — in the middle of the third game — and outclassed the Warriors (21-4) to advance to the semifinals for the first time in four years.
“None of us had ever advanced beyond this round,” said senior Kaitlyn Kohlhaas, who had six kills and has been on the varsity for three seasons.
Added Lozano, “This is our senior year and this could have been our last match. Our goal was to win this match and extend our season.”
Coach Pat Mooney was not pleased with the slow start but refused to push the panic button.
“We just weren’t making clean passes,” said Mooney, who has led the program for five years. “You could see they were nervous. Their girl (Johnson) was left-handed and it took a while to get used to the spin. I just told them to settle down.”
Sewell responded with a strong service effort that resulted in four of the six aces she recorded in the match.
“We have previously served at 94 percent as a team,” said Mooney. “This year it’s 90 percent. But it was Sarah who started us on our run in the first game.”
Later, Lozano began to dominate at the net. The senior, who is being looked at by several college programs, finished with 18 kills and three blocks.
“I know to feed it to her when things get rough,” said Sewell, who finished with 14 assists.
Added Mooney, “Marion has been doing that all year. She’s got a maturity and it goes to helping the younger players. If something goes wrong, it’s no one’s fault. If the other team starts to pick on one of our back row players, the seniors will close in to take some of the pressure off of her.”
Hampton Christian had a top player in outside hitter Angi Highlander. But as Highlander had a few attempts blocked or dug out by Seton’s back line, her effectiveness was minimized.
“A lot of their attack was from the back row,” said Mooney. “Once our players made the adjustment to that, we got our hands on more returns. After we got a few digs on her (Highlander), her game fell apart. She was a quality player.”
Mooney expects to meet The Covenant School from Charlottesville in the state semifinals, a school with which Seton is very familiar.
“They beat us in the regular season in five games,” said Mooney. “We beat them once in the state quarterfinals. They have a good hitter and a good setter. Our girls think they can take them.”
Seton is ranked third in the state among Division 2 independent schools while The Covenant School is ranked second.