Cavaliers complete run to title

The Clover Hill boys volleyball team arguably has had the toughest road to the state playoffs. It wound through two past state champions and all three Central Region district champions. But that is exactly how coach Georjean Lampley would have it.

"We have had a really tough season," Lampley said. "We played a lot of good competition, and that really helped prepare us. It helped playing James River five times, helped prepare us for tonight and for states, so I'm glad we have the tough schedule. I asked for it."

In Friday night's Central Region final, the Cavaliers unseated their third and final district champion - Cosby - 19-25, 25-11, 25-15, 25-19 to enter the Group AAA tournament as the top seed from the Central Region. The game was the sixth meeting between the Dominion District foes and the fourth with a championship on the line.

Cosby held a 3-2 edge going into the match and went up 1-0 early, but Clover Hill grabbed the reins in the second game.

The Cavaliers led by 17 before Cosby earned four points in a row to force a timeout. Clover Hill regrouped and grabbed the final two points off unforced errors.

In terms of what happened, "I'm still trying to figure that out," Cosby coach Frank Jenkins said. "I was concerned about how we'd come out after yesterday's forced no game and no practice. We played well. We came out strong in the first game and did some good things."

Momentum clearly had swung in favor of Clover Hill. The team spread its offense in the third game, getting three blocks from Josh Keeder and three big kills from Matt White, including the final one of the game, which gave Cavaliers a 2-games-to-1 lead.

"Playing Deep Run, we had that one-player mentality like they're going to set this one guy in big situations and then here, we came out, and [Cosby] had a balanced offense, so we had to change our game completely," Clover Hill senior hitter Mark Smith said. "In that first game, we didn't take care of [the ball] at all."

Smith ended the night with eight kills, including the final one of the match. A pair of digs by Bret Brooks kept the ball alive for Clover Hill. On the second, the set up came to Smith, and he slammed it home.

"We went into the timeout, and [the coaches] were talking about covering low and keeping our hitters out, so we just got it up again and again, and I wanted to put it down so bad. I'd been covering the whole time," Smith said.

Tony Song led the Cavaliers with 12 kills, four blocks, five digs and one ace, and Alden Negaard had four kills, four blocks and one dig. In addition to his eight kills, Smith had five blocks, one dig and two assists.

Leading Cosby was Stephen Cunningham with 13 kills. Ben Morrison had 10 kills and two blocks, and Cameron Vaile had eight kills and six blocks.

Both teams advance to the state semifinals at the Siegel Center next Wednesday. Cosby will play the Eastern Region champion at 6 p.m., and Clover Hill will face the Eastern Region runner up at 8 p.m. The Eastern Region final will be played tonight between Great Bridge and First Colonial.