Knights, Wildcats put it all on line
Thomas Dale's players filed off the court quickly, expressing frustration at not being able to play as well as they would have liked.
Deep Run's players lingered on the court, greeting a large student section that came to cheer them on and soaking in the excitement of the state tournament.
The similarity between the teams is that they were both winners yesterday and will meet tomorrow to decide the Group AAA boys volleyball champion.
The Knights defeated Great Bridge 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22, and the Wildcats downed Frank Cox 25-15, 25-20 and 25-20 at VCU's Siegel Center.
Both teams know each other well and after tomorrow's match will begin tryouts for league teams at the Richmond Volleyball Club. They know the winners will be the ones doing the talking.
"We don't want to look at Deep Run having some sort of bling-bling ring and us not having that," Thomas Dale's Bradley Johnston said. "Everybody knows it's a big game."
The last time the schools met was in the Central Region championship, which Thomas Dale won in five games.
"It was a great match," Wildcats coach Kevin Pond said. "Both teams played their hearts out, and I hope that's what is going to happen again."
Yesterday it was Thomas Dale that wasn't thrilled with its effort. The defending state champion Knights won in three games but thought their passing was sluggish. In the third game, Great Bridge went up 12-4 before the Knights rallied and took the lead at 20-19.
Johnston totaled 19 kills for the Knights, followed by 13 from Zach Seymour.
"Our focus just wasn't there like it has been in the past," Seymour said. "But we're back where we wanted to be all season, defending our title."
The duo also expressed disappointment at the Siegel Center atmosphere, which was fairly lifeless throughout the 1 p.m. match.
Perhaps the Knights should have taken a page out of the Wildcats' playbook. Seniors Patrick Maloney and Brian Fitzsimmons, among others, lobbied the Deep Run administration to give students an excused absence to attend their 3 p.m. match.
The result of that was a strong student section that cheered the team to a 10-4 lead in the decisive third game, watching the Wildcats fend off a late comeback attempt to win.
"It was great to start out the third game with a lead," said Fitzsimmons, who served nine consecutive points. "I think after that we were getting too into the crowd."
They shut the Falcons' passing game down and racked up some gaudy numbers of their own. Maloney had 13 kills, and four players -- Lucas Saunders, Ross Madden, John Grove and Fitzsimmons -- had seven. Grove added five blocks for the Wildcats.
So far, Deep Run is 24-2, and Thomas Dale is 26-0; the difference being the two matches they've played against each other.
"It's definitely a rivalry," Johnston said. "It'll be all about side outs. Whoever can force more of them is going to win."
For the Knights, that is a call to step up their game. Right now, it appears the only team in the state that can beat them is themselves. But the somber postgame atmosphere also was indicative of a team that has reached this level before.
Deep Run showed a little more excitement after setting up the match that could give the school its first state title. After talking to reporters, Fitzsimmons and Maloney lingered and took cell-phone pictures at the podium VCU coach Anthony Grant uses for his postgame media briefings.
Whichever team avoids mistakes tomorrow will take its excitement to another level and win bragging rights for the offseason.
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