Cavs down defending state champs

Clover Hill senior volleyball player Mark Smith was hugging everyone in arm’s reach. Fellow senior teammate Tony Song was nearly speechless. The Clover Hill fans were on the floor forming a tunnel and congratulating their team. The Cavaliers are heading back to the Virginia High School League Group AAA boys’ volleyball tournament for the first time in four years after defeating defending state champion Deep Run in Wednesday night’s Central Region Tournament semifinal 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 24-26, 26-24).

The Cavaliers knew at the start of the game that their tournament final opponent would be a familiar foe: Cosby, a team they have seen five times so far this season. However, they knew it would be an uphill battle against a tough Deep Run squad.

Clover Hill never trailed in the first set though Deep Run showed some spark at the end. Trailing 24-17, the Wildcats pounded home four shots in a row to pull within three, but a kill by senior Matt White put the game away. Still, Deep Run was on a roll and appeared to have thrown the Cavalier blocking game off its timing.

Deep Run took an early lead in the second set, but Clover Hill pulled even on a play by Andy Hite. He got perfect position on a tipped block and set up a kill for Smith. The Cavaliers pulled ahead on the next play.

Clover Hill opened up a four-point lead, but Deep Run got control of the pace again and threw off the block timing. The Wildcats pulled within one at 23-22 and Clover Hill coach Georjean Lampley called a time out to rally the troops.

“They started running a little bit faster balls. Their coach wanted to spread the offense out and it was hurting us, but then coach took us into timeout and told us we needed to start lower on our knees and go all the way out to the outside, and it worked,” Smith explained.

Deep Run increased its play at the net in the third set and the Cavaliers appeared to be running out of gas.

The teams matched point-for-point until two consecutive blocks by Deep Run’s Eric Pollitt gave the team its largest lead at 24-22. Josh Keeder brought the Cavaliers back to even but Deep Run aced its final two serves for the win.

The win gave the Wildcats the boost they needed and the team pulled out to a four-point lead twice in the fourth set.

“In that fourth game, I was so tired,” Smith said. “That’s when that team player came in. I said, ‘Send somebody else,’ and they were just putting balls down right and left.”

Clover Hill pulled even behind an ace from Song, and the teams again matched point-for-point.

Tied at 24-all, the Cavaliers killed a shot and then Song recorded the final block of the game which sent the Clover Hill fans streaming onto the floor.

“My legs feel like jell-o right now, but I knew, every single point, I had to dig deep, so I just went up,” Song said of his last block

“We will never quit,” he added. “I can’t believe this right now. The last time we went to states was when I was a freshman on varsity, but I was riding the bench all year. This is just overwhelming.”

Clover Hill’s captains point to the competition they had to play on their road to the district and regional finals as the reason they made it so far. As district runners-up, the Cavaliers played perennial powerhouse Thomas Dale in the first round, then took on the defending state champions in the second. They are also quick to credit their district competition.

“What helped us a lot last week was we played two great teams, Cosby and James River, twice in one week, so that just got us prepped for this,” Song said.

Song led the way for Clover Hill with 15 kills, four blocks and nine digs. Hite added 48 assists and Smith finished with 15 kills and four blocks. Deep Run was led by Ross Madden with 24 kills, four blocks and four aces, Garrett Shot with 16 kills and Thomas Polous with 23 digs and two aces.

Cosby and Clover Hill will meet in an all Dominion District, Central Region final Friday night at 5:30 at Cosby High School. The Titans were 3-1 winners over Highland Springs in the first game of the semifinal double header Wednesday night.