Chantilly Sweeps Visiting Fairfax, 25-18, 25-22, 25-18

Chargers Control the Service Game in Victory Over Rebels; Will Battle Crosstown Rival Westfield on Tuesday

By Angela Watts
Content Editor

There was a lot of youth on both sides of the volleyball court Monday night at Chantilly — and a lot of talent, too.

In the end it was Chantilly, which boasts two seniors on its roster, which out-did its counterparts from Fairfax, whose roster consists of only one upperclassman, 25-18, 25-22, 25-18.

“A lot of our girls have been playing together outside of high school
for a long time, so I think it helps even though we’re not as
experienced as a high school team there is still a lot of experience
there,” Chargers’ junior middle hitter Jessica Cooper said.
“And I know as these girls get older and the seven sophomores become
the seven seniors, that’s really going to make a strong team. It’s
really building our program for the future, I think.”

But don’t misunderstand: Chantilly is pretty good right now, too.

For starters, the Chargers (9-3 overall, 1-0 Concorde District) dominated the service game behind the play of senior Vicky Chung and sophomores Andreea Linte and Joanna Powers, and proved equally outstanding in their serve-receive. Chung, the team’s libero, totaled a match-high 26 digs.

Fairfax
(8-4, 2-2) matched Chantilly’s offensive firepower — and perhaps even
brought more of it — but the Rebels could not match the Chargers’
defensive prowess.

“We just didn’t play well,” Fairfax Coach Christine Zanellato said.
“We beat Robinson in five games and Herndon in five … and we expected
to at least take this team to five. But we made most of the mental
mistakes. We have a very strong offensive game, but we didn’t handle
their serves well. And that’s frustrating because we’ve been working on
that. But once we started making mental mistakes we weren’t able to
come back.”

Chantilly was led offensively by middle hitters Cooper and sophomore Allison Williams, who totaled eight and 12 kills, respectively. Sophomore setters Linte (19 assists) and Emily Wright
(12 assists) did a nice job of mixing high sets to the middle with
short, jump sets that are much harder to execute — but also much
harder to defend.

Chantilly junior Jessica Cooper and senior Haley Rauch go up for a block Monday against Fairfax.

“We’ve really been working on things the past couple of weeks to
strengthen our middle, because usually we go straight to our outside
hitters,” said Cooper, who admitted the short, jump sets are still a
work in progress. “We’re definitely still working it in. It takes a lot
of practice to get the timing down. That’s one thing, though, that once
we connect it’s strong. And it’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Fairfax had its own one-two punch with outside hitters Theresa Harvey, a junior, and Marilyn Peizer, a freshman. The hard-swinging underclassmen led the Rebels offensively and defensively, with Harvey totaling 16 kills and nine digs and Peizer finishing with 10 kills and 13 digs.

“We emphasize passing and defense a lot,” Chantilly Coach Charles Ezigbo
said. “Tonight we had to step up our blocking because they had a couple
of really good hitters, so we had to adjust to them. That’s why our
defense was a little sluggish early because our blocking wasn’t up to
the level of the rest of our defense, but we got it straightened out.”

Ezigbo
did so by using a tremendous amount of depth, shuffling every player on
his roster in-and-out of the game in situations that would suit their
strengths.

“We have people who can play all the way around,
but we just seem to be better when we try to balance it out and play
people at their strengths,” Ezigbo said. “Plus, most of our kids are
young, so it’s good to get them experience now.”

That experience, he hopes, will pay off Tuesday night when Chantilly visits its biggest rival, Westfield (11-4, 2-1).

“I
feel nervous and excited, all kind of rolled into one,” Cooper said.
“It’s a heated match. It’s not just another day coming out and playing.
It’s our crosstown rivalry and they’ve been a good team and they are a
good team. But now, I think we can be the better team.”

Fairfax’s goal is less immediate and instead, geared toward the future.

“The thing is, the girls still tend to shut down,” Zanellato said.
“This is the first year that Fairfax volleyball has really competed
well in the Concorde District and so when you go from a traditionally
losing program to a program that can compete, you have to deal with
learning how to win. They’re a great group of kids, but we’re still
learning, as a team, to expect to win every time we walk on the court.”

Senior libero Vicky Chung rattled off eight straight service points in Game 1 to propel the Chargers to a three-game sweep of the Rebels.

* Photos courtesy of Charger parent Stuart Cooper. To see a complete photo gallery from Chantilly’s volleyball season, go to http://gallery.mac.com/stucooper1.

** To see complete highlights from Monday’s match, as well as a video interview with Chantilly senior libero Vicky Chung, click on the “Volleyball” sports central link at the
top of the home page.