Woodbridge holds on to share of district lead

By Dave Utnik

Published: October 21, 2008

Woodbridge’s volleyball team still has great respect for its rivalry with Hylton — even if the matches don’t mean quite as much as they have in previous seasons.
The Vikings are a first place team now and, in some ways, they have left Hylton behind. But beating the Bulldogs remains a big deal, especially at home.
So they transformed Tuesday night’s match into an event. The Vikings dedicated the entire evening to eight varsity seniors, complete with yellow roses, streamers, balloons and a custom made cake with a team photo embedded in the icing.
“We moved our senior night to tonight because we wanted to remember it and make it special,” senior captain Theresa McElroy said.
Facing the Bulldogs at the end of the regular season has become an annual ritual with the winner usually playing for possession of second place in the Cardinal District. Last night’s meeting lacked the potential postseason drama but there was still plenty of pageantry and intrigue as Woodbridge maintained a share of the district lead with a 25-17, 13-25, 25-20, 25-13 victory.
“I’m very excited about how the girls played,” Vikings coach Mary Kerski said. “We have some things to tweak but the girls showed me they are still the team they can be.”
The Vikings aspire to be a championship team and, right now, only eight-time defending champion Forest Park stands between them and a Northwest Region Tournament berth which is awarded to the regular season champion. All of that will be sorted out on Monday, when the co-leaders square off at Potomac in a tiebreaker match.
To get there, Woodbridge had to get past Hylton first and McElroy helped made sure that the Bulldogs didn’t spoil the fun. After making a verbal commitment to play volleyball at Shepherd University, the Vikings’ outside hitter came up with 22 digs and seven kills to help Woodbridge improve to 14-3 overall and 10-1 in district play.
“One thing I’ve made sure the girls understand is that you can’t forget about anybody,” Kerski said. “Hylton is still a great team and you don’t want to take anybody for granted.”
Junior middle hitter Katie Maksanty certainly understands her role in this rivalry. She’s been a part of it for three years now.
On Tuesday, she combined for 10 kills and nine blocks as Woodbridge bounced back from a loss in game two to fend off the determined Bulldogs.
Hylton is blessed with one of the county’s most versatile volleyball players in outside hitter Karly Lynch and she always seems to elevate the play of anyone around her. Lynch’s 15-kill, 21-dig performance certainly sparked an exceptional display from the defense, especially libero Melanie Farrington, who had a career-high 37 digs.
Samantha Adams finished with six kills and 14 digs, while Emily Cashdollar had 13 digs and Caitlin Thomas added six blocks for the Bulldogs.
The Vikings countered with some terrific defense, too.
Senior libero Casey Burdette came up with 20 digs and four aces, Melissa Cousins served five aces, Kelsey Churchill had 12 digs and Kelly Morrissey combined for nine kills and 15 digs as Woodbridge began preparing for Monday’s match.
“We’ve been trying to get into the groove of things. Now that tonight is over our focus is definitely on Forest Park,” McElroy said. “We’re going to come out ready for them.”