Eastern View faces must win after loss to Chargers

Ron Counts, Staff Writer
Published: October 16, 2008

With the season’s end quickly approaching, the Cyclones only have one thing on their minds — making the Battlefield District tournament.

Their task seemed simple enough — win one of the final two remaining games, finish in third place and move on to the postseason. But Eastern View’s load got a little heavier after nine-time district champion Chancellor came to town Thursday and swept the Cyclones 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-15).

“They (Chancellor) are a great team,” Eastern View coach Betty Jo Utz said. “They’re well put together and well established, but I’m proud of the effort we gave tonight.”

The loss drops the Cyclones to 5-6 in the district and makes next Tuesday’s match at Spotsylvania a must-win for the Cyclones because only the top four teams advance to the postseason.

“This team has a lot to be proud of,” Utz said. “We basically started from scratch. We’ve fought through some tough games and now we have a chance finish third or fourth in a tough district.”

After dropping the first two games to the Chargers (16-2 overall, 11-0 in the district), the Cyclones looked like they were going to make a stand after senior Kristen Barklund lobbed a shot over the defense to tie the final game 3-3.

But Chancellor’s powerful southpaw Emma Lee Gillespie would have none of it. She pounded a lethal kill past the Cyclones to give the Chargers an 11-8 lead, before finding a hole in the defense with an accurate kill that extended the lead to 23-10.

“We have a lot of power and Emma has really come on this year,” Chancellor coach Rod Crooks said. “But we have four girls that already have over 100 kills this season, so everyone does a pretty good job of getting to the ball.”

Gillespie finished the match with nine kills, but she wasn’t the only star. Junior Seth Sullivan racked up eight kills and two aces, while senior Kelli Carneal — another lefty — added six kills and three aces.

Serving seemed to be the difference in the game, despite the fact that Crooks bemoaned his team’s lack of focus on the serving line.

“We played a little uninspired tonight,” he said. “In a normal match our serving is a strength, but tonight there were way too many serving errors, especially when you get a couple in a row. We don’t allow a couple in a row.”

The Chargers totaled 15 aces during the match, compared to only two from the Cyclones. Chancellor had four girls finish with three aces, and a total of six that scored on at least one.

What’s their secret?

Maybe it has something to do with their delivery. Sophomore Mia Fortune, sophomore Adriana Ramos and Carneal all finished with three aces, and they all employed the jump serve.

“A lot of times jump serves are hard to defend because of the intimidation factor,” Crooks said. “The perception of it is a lot harder to get past than it is to actually defend one, but if you’re not used to them, it’s going to be tough.”

Chancellor is sitting atop the Battlefield District, and Courtland isn’t far behind. Eastern View and Spotsylvania are tied for third right now, but Utz knows that if the Cyclones want to stay in the postseason hunt they’re going to have to find a way to win their regular season finale.

“We were disappointed with how we played them (Spotsy) last time,” she said. “But if we keep practicing like we’ve been, do all the small things right and go into game day with the right mindset we’ll be fine.”

Ron Counts can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or