Open Volleyball Nites at SBS! February 28, 2009
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After Spring Break we’re going to have Open Volleyball at the gym, Thursday nights at 6:30. We want to have competitive play so come ready to bump/set/spike. Moms and dad… boys and girls…
SBS “Homecoming” Cavs Take Down Hampton Christian February 21, 2009
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Dateline: February 20, 2009, Hampton Christian School
Okay, if you are looking for some excitement… If you want to recapture what it is like to live in a “small town”…. If you want to see some really good small school basketball…. then Hampton Christian High was your destination.
For the fourth time, the boys varsity was the chosen “foil” for a Metro conference opponent’s homecoming, this time at Hampton Christian High. I say we schedule eight homecomings next year because the Cavs finish their homecoming gauntlet with an impressive 3-1 record.
I arrived with a flock of high schoolers as the first quarter was nearing the end and things looked bleak. The faithful band of 60 or so SBS fans were huddled in one corner of the bleachers, ominously quiet as the scoreboard revealed our Cavs were already down 15 points. But things started to turn. I give these boys and their coaches a lot of credit. Basically, any hopes of making the state tournament would be dashed with a loss to Hampton — ranked 12th (the last playoff spot) in the state. The boys kept fighting. Jimmy Tabb started driving to the basket. Brian got his shoulder brace. And we chipped away, cutting the lead down to two at halftime.
(BTW, I liked their “homecoming” halftime festivities. They had any alumni in attendance come out on the court and get an ovation. The the cheerleaders did a very good dance routine with the lights dimmed and spotlights on.)
Back to the game….
Not sure what happened in the third quarter, but I can tell you our band of fans — packed tightly into the far corner of the bleachers — really raised a raucous. I’d say we were outnumbered 6-to-1 but made at least as much, if not more, noise. Maybe it was because we had more highlights in the second half. There was Joel Arcieri stepping up big with some key buckets. Brian Palmer’s trademark slash to the hoop for another two. Wesley Carroll — the quickest guy on the court — playing with four fouls yet managing key buckets and clogging up the middle on defense.
We built a lead and ended up winning by a half dozen. The “Homecoming” Cavs had done it again — the onloy blemish on the homecoming record being a loss at Atlantic Shores, but I’m not sure any team public or private in Hampton Roads could beat Shores.
Breaking Down The Big City
But the real winners were both schools and their fans. In an almost magical way, these basketball games reduce our large network of cities with 1.5 million-plus residents to a small town. It was as if the entire “village” of Hampton Christian had come out to celebrate in their unique way and they invited neighboring rival StoneBridge Village to play. Our region is large enough that it is rare to see someone you meet when you are out and about, shopping at Wal Mart or visiting the mall. But here, I was among family. There’s Mark Keating with is “StoneBridge Swimming” jacket. Jim Arcieri to my left, cheering his son and the team on. The cheerleaders just over my right shoulder. There’s Trey losing his voice to lead the “Stone… what?” cheer. Phil Herring… John Cash… The girls basketball team…. Kellie Unsworth… and my co-color commentator for this game, Greg Akins.
We sat admidst Hampton Christian villagers and had good, friendly discussions about the homecoming… if their star player has received a basketball scholarship…. etc. Truth be told, it’s a village that is still in shock from losing one of its students this year to suicide. I’m sure Hampton Christian Village will still be recovering for some time to come. Hopefully, this Homecoming, surrounded by friends and family and with their good neighbors from StoneBridge Village taking part, helped in that process.
Lady cavs compete tough in holiday tourney December 27, 2008
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The Lady Cavs split the first two games of the Greyhounds tournament at IC Norcom, winning the first game before falling to Booker T Washington (and the refs) in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The Pilot’s coverage of Friday’s game featured a large photo of our very own Caitlyn Unsworth pulling up for two of her 17 points (photo of print edition below). After leading early, the Cavs fell behind by 12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter before closing the gap to three with tightening defense. The Cavs then induced another turnover and were ready to take the ball in with a chance to tie until the refs conferred and refersed the call. Booker T went on a run to stretch the gap back to more than a dozen.
Still, the Cavs should come away from the game with confidence. We didn’t play our best game, got into early fould trouble, had to endure some questionable refereeing in an unfriendly environment against a top 10 public school…. and were only down by three in the fourth quarter. This bodes well for the rest of the season.(Season record: 9-2)
Link to Pilot’s story on Friday’s game.
Friday’s Box:
StoneBridge 52, Norview 32
STONEBRIDGE: Unsworth 17, Rowe 8, Foster 10, Tabb 18, Wash 9. Totals: 21 6-9 52.
NORVIEW: Edwards 18, Acuna’ 2, Cuffee 1, Matthews 2, Harris 6, Payton 1, Lucas 2. Totals: 13 4-8.
Halftime: StoneBridge 35-13. 3-point goals: Edwards 2, Linsworth 2, Rowe 2
Print edition caption: Caitlynn Unsworth of StoneBridge, right, shoots over Lashay Lucas of Norview during a Lady Greyhound Classic tournament Friday. ( Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot )
StoneBridge Weathers Tough 4-Game Span As Program Makes Crucial Transition October 3, 2008
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Sooooooooo close! That’s a quick two-word assessment of the past tough four-game span against the undefeated conference leader, two Division II schools and a strong conference opponent. Although StoneBridge did not get a victory in the span, the team does not come away defeated. In fact, I believe we’re accomplishing what we set out to do at the beginning of the year.
When the VaPilot requested a pre-season write-up, I summarized where I thought the volleyball program was headed by saying we are a “program that is in transition from league doormat to competitor and hopefully to the top tier.” Thirteen games into the season, we’ve completed the first part of that transition which began last year — from league doormat to competitor. Lest we forget, prior to this season we had three conference wins in the program’s history. Just a few years ago, we had sixth and seventh graders forced to play varsity. Last year, the program took huge strides forward and began the path to building a competitive program. This year, we’ve completed that transition. Evidence:
–Program high in wins for a season
–Program high in conference wins
–First ever statewide ranking in Division III
–We have been competitive with every team and could have or nearly did beat every team we’ve played
–Our JV team is strong and competitive and actually quite impressive (and setting records for wins!)
–We added a JJV team to accommodate the high level of interest in volleyball and give young players more court time
Following the first game of the four-game stretch against undefeated and highly ranked Broadwater, I was told by some folks at Broadwater that we were “the best team they’ve played.” In the second game against Division II Greenbrier, we led 2-1 only to fall in five games in a very hard fought match. This week at Alliance Christian, we fought back from 0-2 and had the lead 12-8 in the fifth game before falling. And last night, we actually outscored Norfolk Christian but lost three heartbreakers: 24-26, 29-31 and 23-25.
Total points in the four games: 328-397. Last three games: 300-303.
Total points for the season thus far: 1,000-1,000
So, congrats to all the girls involved in StoneBridge volleyball! We’ve officially made it from league doormat to competitor. I’m excited as I look forward to the coming games and the conference tournament and the opportunity to establish ourselves in the conference top tier. That’s the challenge before us.
SBS Volleyball Ranked #10 in Division 3! September 23, 2008
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Losses to Denbigh and Hampton Show SBS What It Will Take September 21, 2008
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Two defeats bracketing StoneBridge’s annual school retreat come early enough in the season to serve as an excellent teaching moment for a young team in transition to the conference’s top tier. “These defeats were difficult but they can serve as a blessing in disguise if we will glean the lessons we need to improve,” said coach Elliott. “Namely, in order to beat the better teams, we must start strong and compete on every point. And we’re still learning how to pick each other up after physical and mental errors.”
Game Summary: Denbigh
For a team transitioning to the upper tier of the conference, every game can provide new lessons. This game’s lesson — we cannot count on winning the match if we do not compete in the first game. The total score of the final three games was 76-76, showing that these two teams were very evenly matched. Denbigh prevailed on the strength of two-point overtime victories in games two and four. “I didn’t know volleyball could be so much fun,” said one StoneBridge parent as the two teams traded tough points in the deciding game. Credit to Denbigh — a well coached, disciplined team that competes on every point — for prevailing. But we look forward to the rematch! Ashlea Foster: 15 kills; Rachel Rowe 11 kills.
Game Summary: Hampton Christian
Hampton Christian solidified its hold on second place in the conference with a convincing victory over a young StoneBridge team that is learning what it will take to compete with the top tier teams. SBS literally lost the match on the first two service turns for Hampton in games one and two as we spotted our opponents with 10+ points which is too large of a deficit to overcome. Overall, we had 26 failed service receptions and just a 60% success rate — far below our 83% season average coming in to the game. Despite convincing losses in the first two games, SBS can take away from this match confidence that we can compete — and beat — teams like Hampton. We led the game late and had the serve at 22-22.
Dinning Helps “Serve” Up SBS Volleyball’s Fifth Win September 14, 2008
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Gamedate: 9/12/08. Even though the SBS girls varsity volleyball team clearly had the upper hand on Oaktree, the score half way through the second game didn’t indicate such. The two teams played a close game one and now Oaktree held a 15-10 advantage when Emily Dinning took the ball for her serve.
Twelve points and five aces later, SBS was back in control and on its way to a 3-0 victory. “Emily’s 12 serves changed the entire game,” said coach Elliott. “It’s something we talked about since our first practice — we need to be able to get ten serves in in a row to turn games around. And Emily did just that.” Add in Ashlea Foster’s 14 kills, Rachel Rowe’s 10 kills and seven aces, and Megan Gilbert’s eight assists and SBS was able to finish off the week 4-0 and improve its record to 5-1 (3-1 in the conference). Next up: 2007 conference runner-up Denbigh Baptist.
Once again, the JV led the way for the varsity with a victory over Oaktree. With a sweep of four games this week, the JV improved to 4-2, making this the most victorious JV volleyball team in SBS history. Congrats!
Rowe And Foster 1-2 Punch Powers Lady Cavs Over Chargers September 12, 2008
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Rachel Rowe and Ashley Foster provided a powerful 1-2 punch as StoneBridge Varsity Volleyball defeated the Isle of Wight Chargers 3-1 Thursday at StoneBridge. Rowe (20 kills, 8 aces, 12 service receptions and 8 digs) and Foster (14 kills, 7 aces, 23 service receptions and 8 digs) kept the pressure on the Chargers with a steady diet of front-row and back-row attacks. “Ashley and Rachel seemed determined to take the game to Isle of Wight,” said coach Steve Elliott. “Especially after we lost the first game, these girls turned up the heat in a big way.”
Key Moment In Match
After winning games two and three, StoneBridge seemed to take control of game four and led 23-18. That’s when the Chargers came storming back to tie at 23. Following a time out, StoneBridge gained a side out and Rowe served the game out with an ace for the win. “That was the key moment in the match,” said Elliott. “We gained back the momentum and then Rachel ended the game quite suddenly.” Elliott knows the rematch will be a test. “We’ll face a very tough match when we travel to their court,” said Elliott, whose team continues to make progress and set new standards for the volleyball program.
As usual, it took a real team effort to put down a Chargers squad that entered the game second in the conference. Kristin Hines (17 of 17), Katie Connor (seven of eight) and libero Geli Ziegler (10 of 10) served up many key points while setters Megan Gilbert and Laura Rader provied 12 and 11 assists respectively. SBS now stands at 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
JV Victory!
SBS’s JV squad also won in come-from-behind fashion, losing the first game but then taking control of the match in games two and three. The JV also completed a first in SBS volleyball history with a 100% serving percentage for the entire match.
SBS Volleyball Gets First Home Win September 8, 2008
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9/8/08 at SBS. Against an upstart program, SBS girls bounced back and played a much improved game in sweeping Faith Baptist by a score of 3-0. Ashlea Foster’s 17 kills led the way and Laura Rader’s 12 assists kept StoneBridge in control throughout the match. SBS’s return and service percentages were much higher and overall team cohesion improved as the team heads into a very busy stretch of games. Rachel Rowe added seven aces on 19 serves to go with nine kills and now leads the team with 30 aces in three games.
A Libero!
In a major development, SBS employed for the first time a libero as Geli Ziegler wore the white jersey and manned the back row. Geli was 5 for 5 in service receptions in the new role as SBS improved to 2-1 overall.
First Defeat Comes At Hands Of Alliance September 8, 2008
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9/5/08 at SBS. Rough game all around. We had trouble serving, returning, setting, etc. It’s definitely one of those games you brush off quickly and move on especially since the games will come very rapidly over the next few weeks. Credit to Alliance Christian for playing consistent volleyball. They were definitely the more comfortable team. But we left the court knowing we can compete with Alliance and beat them if we play our game. Onward! (Geli Zieger 8 of 9 service receptions, 4 of 4 serves;
SBS Varsity Volleyball Opens By Serving Up Win Over Williamsburg September 3, 2008
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9/2/08. “How about that girl with all the aces?” That’s what the Williamsburg coach said as the two head coaches looked for stats to report to the local newspapers after SBS’s 3-1 victory over Williamsburg Christian.
“That girl” was our very one Rachel Rowe, who put 40 of 42 serves in play — itself quite a feat. But when combined with the fact that half her serves went for aces, the .952 serving percentage stands out even more. But Rachel was not alone in showing excellence from the service line. SBS had seven players with at least seven attempts and each put more than 80% in play. Overall, SBS put 97 of 105 serves in the court (.924) and 29 went for aces. “In the end, our ability to get serves in and win points off the serve made the difference,” said coach Steve Elliott. “It was truly a team effort.”
Ashlea Foster led the way with 16 kills with Rowe adding 11 — supported by 17 assists by Laura Rader — as SBS held off a feisty Williamsburg team. “They are a solid returning/passing team,” said Elliott. “Not a lot of big hitters or servers, but they kept returning what I thought were some strong hits by our girls. I expect a tough rematch later in the season.”
(25-23, 26-28, 25-21, 25-17)
SBS 2008 Volleyball–Aiming High! September 3, 2008
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Here’s the highlights from the briefing we sent to the Virginian-Pilot on the 2008 SBS Girls Varsity Volleyball season….
StoneBridge volleyball took significant strides forward in 2007 and we expect 2008 to be a breakthrough year. The varsity team is led by our co-captains, Ashlea Foster and Rachel Rowe, who came to StoneBridge with strong volleyball pedigree and are elevating our program with their skill and passion for volleyball. The core of the team is young and will feature several sophomores, including two setters who started as freshmen. Our theme for the year is “cohesion” and our success will depend on our ability to feature our strongest players and develop clearly defined roles in a mix that focuses on “sticking together.” The program overall is on the rise with interest at the younger 6-9 grades extremely high.
Potential Storylines…
The interesting story here is a program that is in transition from league doormat to competitor and hopefully to the top tier. This has happened with StoneBridge basketball over the past half-dozen years and we see that we are in the midst of that same process. Enthusiasm is high. We have more girls participating than ever before. We have strong top-tier players and younger players learning roles.
Key Players…
Ashlea Foser 12 Outside Hitter 5-11 STATS
Co-Captain. Ashlea is a strong, athletic hitter with a big serve who is fiercely competitive. She led our team last year as a junior in kills and I expect her to have a big senior season.
Rachel Rowe, 11, Outside Hitter, 5-8, STATS.
Co-Captain. Rachel is a strong hitter and our best server. She is an excellent all-around player who will be asked to help lead a core of young players this year.
Laura Radar, 10, Setter. 5-4.
Laura started as a fresh man setter, is very athletic and has a bright volleyball future.
Megan Gilbert 10, Setter, 5-4.
Megan started as a freshman setter, is a fearless competitor and has much upside potential.
girls finish strong February 29, 2008
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the girls contended well for all four quarters but fell 41-30 in the state semis. Great effort. Had chance to win late. More later…
OK… It’s morning now and I think these girls did a fantastic job this year. Truth be told, we played the best team remaining in the tournament yesterday and we could have beaten them. Consider this: our opponent scored 92 points on Thursday and we held them to 41 points yesterday. We beat them on the boards; our defense did an excellent job of keeping them out of any rhythm.
And we came storming back in the fourth quarter. Our strong contingent of SBS fans made quite a racket which (perhaps!) helped induce turnovers by our opponent on three successive possessions — okay, the girls get 99% of the credit! We cut it to four or five with about 2:30 remaining and had the ball. A break here or there and we’re playing today in the finals.
What a great bunch of girls, and the prospects for next year are very, very strong.
Thanks Ryan and Julius! February 29, 2008
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Hey, let’s use this thread to offer some words of thanks to Ryan and Julius for representing SBS so well in their excellent play and tremendous character this basketball season! Just click on “comment.”
Va-Pilot Story February 29, 2008
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Here’s the Va-Pilot’s story, online.
Girls boxscore:
Intro to the story:
By DAN COOLEY Special to The Virginian-Pilot For the first time, StoneBridge played host for both the boys and girls quarterfinals in the state private school basketball tournament as the higher seeds.
