Rapids off to flying start

One year ago, James River’s boys volleyball team emerged from the season-opening Virginia Volleyball Showcase tournament with a seventh-place finish and a roster so unsettled, even coach Terry Ford wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Ford, who has coached junior volleyball for years, saw flashes of talent from his squad in preseason workouts but never imagined the Rapids would end the season as state champions.

Now his challenge is keeping James River at the top of the mountain after losing three starters, including all-state hitter Darren Kilby, from the team that beat Ocean Lakes of Virginia Beach in the Group AAA final.

It won’t be easy, but based on their 25-14, 28-26 victory over Douglas Freeman in Saturday’s 2011 Showcase final, the Rapids already are ahead of last year’s pace.

“We’ve talked about how our goals for this season have not been established,” Ford said. “Every team is different. We have a lot of guys who play juniors and they’ve developed skills they didn’t have last year.”

James River, which beat Varina, Monacan and Deep Run in pool play before outlasting First Colonial in a tight three-game semifinal, has three returning starters and decent size (six players 6-3 or taller) to complement its typically excellent defense.

The Rapids also have two major weapons that make them a legitimate threat to repeat as state champions: a powerful middle hitter in 6-4 senior Sam Albus and one of the state’s top setters in junior Mitchell Ford.

The younger Ford, who enjoyed the luxury of being able to set the ball to Kilby on every critical point last season, is confident Albus and his other teammates will be able to fill the void left when Kilby graduated in June.

“Sam Albus is the best middle in the state, hands down,” he said. “He’s an unstoppable force – and we had a lot of guys step up in the offseason and say ‘I’m going to be the next stud at James River.’”

The Rapids will need some of their less experienced players to step up because they still play in one of the most competitive volleyball districts in Virginia.
Cosby, the defending Dominion District regular-season champion, lost three seniors (including standout setter Ben Morrison) but still has plenty of experience (six seniors) and size on its current roster. The Titans finished second in their pool last weekend and fell to Colonial District power Deep Run in the Silver Division final.

Midlothian lost five starters from a senior-dominated 2010 team, but returns talented seniors in setter Kevin Speers and hitter Keith Harbula. The Trojans also finished second in their pool at the Showcase and lost to Cosby in the Silver Division semifinals.

Clover Hill, which lost most of its team to graduation after winning the state championship in 2009, has six returning starters and appears poised to contend once again. The Cavaliers finished second in their pool and fell to Deep Run in the Silver Division semifinals.

Monacan also had a solid showing at the tournament, placing third in its pool and beating Glen Allen in the Bronze Division semifinals before losing to Princess Anne.
Mitchell Ford knows all those teams are gunning for James River this season and welcomes the challenge of facing every opponent’s “A” game.

“I don’t know how everyone else feels about it, but I love that bulls eye,” he said. “It means people have respect for what you’ve done in the past. Now all we have to do is go out and play up to expectations.”

For James River’s coach, the challenge is managing those expectations and creating an environment where his players aren’t afraid to fail.

“The real difficulty is getting the guys to relax in practice,” Terry Ford said. “We have a young team and they feel the pressure of trying to do something good.”