Western Albemarle volleyball is slowly marching toward a Jefferson District championship and the Warriors took a significant step Tuesday night, using an efficient offensive performance to pick up their first win over Fluvanna County.
“We really worked on setting our outsides and swinging down the line,” said Western’s Brooke Chavez. “It just happened to work well with the fast sets tonight.”
Western swept the Flucos 3-0, winning 25-22, 25-16 and 25-21.
Chavez finished with 12 kills while Sofia Beard filled up the stat sheet with eight kills, three aces and five digs. Beard’s efforts helped bolster a defensive performance that was critical against the Flucos, who can attack from all over the floor.
“We just really worked hard in practice to be able to defend against anything because Fluvanna uses a more spread out offense,” Chavez said. “We worked hard to defend that.”
Emma Shifflett notched eight kills while Ellie Boitnott had 15 assists, five aces and seven digs.
“I’m just super proud of how they’ve been playing this season,” said Julie Radlinski. “I think we are continuing to improve day in and day out and make those tweaks we need to during matches.”
The Flucos were the last team on the district slate that Western hadn’t played at least once and Fluvanna put up a significant fight, particularly in the first and third games.
“I think the girls served well, but the energy was not where it needed to be,” said Fluvanna coach Christi Harlowe-Garrett. “Western has got a great offense, they pass the ball very well and we didn’t do a great job of getting them out of system.”
The Warriors and Flucos will square off again next Thursday, but before that , the Flucos will host Charlottesville while Western travels to Monticello, both on Thursday night.
