The WJ Girls’ Volleyball team suffered a tough loss in the state semifinals against rival Sherwood on Nov. 15. The girls went to four sets, but WJ ended up losing 25-13, 25-21, 18-25 and 25-12, respectively.
Sherwood senior Alex Holston had another dominating performance, proving to be WJ’s kryptonite. She had 42 kills, setting a state tournament record for the most kills in one match by a single player. WJ finished the season with a 16-2 record, with both losses coming against Sherwood. The team lost only nine out of the 137 sets they played this year. Senior Kristen Larrick and junior Brigid Morris combined for 30 kills themselves, but Sherwood proved once again to be too tough a challenger for WJ.
The girls started slow, letting Sherwood take a dominant 25-13 victory in the first set. However, in the next two sets, they were able to keep Holston’s influence to a minimum as they managed to bring the second set to a 21-25 loss and win the third set. In the fourth set, the game quickly slipped away as Sherwood rallied quickly to a 13-3 lead and refused to give it up.
Seniors Kristen Larrick, Stephanie Paul, Gelila Dawit, Gina Fischetti, Sierra Jan, Sarah Norkola-Smith, Ivana Stojisavljevic, Corry Straathof and Sarah Strochak finish their high school volleyball careers with the 4A West division title. However, that’s not the end of volleyball for all of them. Larrick and Paul will continue their volleyball careers in college by playing for William & Mary. In addition, Larrick was also mentioned as 1st team all-met in volleyball, a first for WJ since 1992 with Dana Eberly back when Walter Johnson was a 3A school.
“I think the girls are happy with their four years here, they put in a lot of time and energy and they were successful. It does show that hard work, and working as a team, does pay off,” said the team’s coach Bill Morris.
Morris recalls that the most memorable part of the season was winning the region title against the previously undefeated Magruder HS.
With nine seniors graduating, the team is going to have trouble filling those positions next season. It’s not just the graduating starters who the team will miss, Morris explained that even those seniors who did not play much made the practices more competitive, which is what they need if they want to be successful.
“We are hoping to have underclassman who can step up, but they will have to work hard to be able to do it,” said Morris.
Following a very successful season, junior captain Brigid Morris and other underclassmen will take command of the Wildcats next year.
