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Falcons come back from 24-21 deficit twice to sweep Raiders
Shutouts are not supposed to be this close.“Take care of it!” Stonewall Jackson volleyball coach Matt Heyman pleaded with his team during Game 3 Tuesday night against Fauquier. “Don’t let them back in this game!”
Heyman had reason to be concerned: Stonewall, trailing in the match 2-0 (29-27, 25-17), was winning late in a game.
If that doesn’t make sense to you, then perhaps you understand what it was like to be in the coach’s position.
Fauquier (4-0 overall, 3-0 Cedar Run District) had already come back once from a 24-21 deficit during Game 1, as did Osbourn Park when trailing by an identical score earlier this season.
This time, the Raiders (2-3, 1-2) were winning 22-18 and coming off a timely 6-0 run.
Sophomore libero Sam Bohn made a split-second decision after a timeout about whether to risk an attack from Fauquier junior outside hitter Caitlin McDaniel. The ball whizzed by her right side to land either inbounds or out of bounds.
McDaniel held back.
Just over the line, 7-0 run for Stonewall.
“She played very composed volleyball, which for a sophomore is very impressive,” Heyman said later.
Yet Fauquier took three of the next four points, putting Stonewall in that ever-familiar 24-21 territory.
A block, an ace, and a spike later, and the Falcons knotted the score at 24-24.
Heyman sat in his chair at the end of the Stonewall bench closest to the scoring table. He jiggled his pen, paused for a moment, looked to his right and yelled, “Time out!” to the nearest referee.
Stonewall had earned a point on the first volley back from a timeout three times in a row. But this time, after Heyman smiled, laughed and joked around with one of his assistant coaches before the game started back up, the Falcons drew first blood and needed just one more point to cap their comeback.
Jasmine Marshall to the line.
Ace. 26-24.
Fauquier earned its 3-0 win in Warrenton through sheer resilience. The teams were as evenly matched as they could be: They tied each other in Game 1 at 24-24, 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27 prior to a missed serve by Stonewall and an ace serve from senior middle blocker Laura Stockham.
“She’s very strong in the front,” said Fauquier coach Diana Story about Stockham. “And she’s not satisfied with just running middle. She runs different plays so that helps our offense a lot.”
Story also noted the mental effect the come-from-behind win by her squad had on the visiting Raiders.
“I think what finally got it for us was we won the first game, and I think that took a lot of the wind out of your sails when you do that,” she said.
Stockham’s single strike noticeably deflated the Raiders, who fell behind 14-3 at the start of the second game after playing so competitively at first.
“Be you. Be great. It’s okay to win! It’s allowed!” Heyman half-sarcastically, half-seriously implored his team during a timeout.
After all, he knew they were better than that.
“Honestly, this team has no idea how good they are. I mean, we could easily have been up two games to one,” he said.
Serving proved to be Stonewall’s strong suit. Baehr laced three consecutive aces together and added another two after Oxley made a cross-court, right-to-left smash courtesy of a Brittney Osrborn dig an a set by Baehr herself.
She managed to pull her team within two points at 15-13, but Fauquier dominated the rest of the game.
Team captain Katherine Nesheim, who wore a brace on her right wrist during the match, noted the team’s difficulty in closing out games.
“We just have to learn when we’re ahead just to go ahead, go in for the kill and finish it off,” she said while walking to the team bus.
Nesheim proved to be a consistently bright spot for the Raider offense. In game three, her serves helped erase Fauquier’s 18-16 lead and created a 23-18 Stonewall advantage with aces accounting for three points.
Three times this season, Stonewall has been one hit away from a momentum-swinging victory. So far, Heyman’s kept his cool about it as he has told the girls they have a long season ahead of them.
“There [were] great things, and one of the things I really want to do is focus on the things they’re doing well,” he said. “It’s just closing the door, finishing out a game. How are we going to finish out a game?”
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