There is a group of seniors at Fallston High School that just doesn’t know what it feels like to lose an UCBAC volleyball championship.
That’s because for the fourth consecutive year, the Cougars have remained supreme on the conference’s courts, beating the Elkton Golden Elks, Wednesday, in three straight sets for the 2010 UCBAC crown.
“It was nice to have everybody together and get everybody to play, which contributed to the success,” Fallston Head Coach Alison Winaker said. “We had a couple things that we wanted to fix, and they did that.”
The Cougars (14-2, 11-1) didn’t give the Elks (12-4, 12-2) much room to breathe on the night, turning a 2-1 deficit in game one to a 9-3 lead on the serving of Rachel Holehouse, who laced three non-returnable serves to Elkton before Shannon Webb and Marissa Curran helped extend the lead to 18-8.
Just a few serves later, it was Cougar Allison Heisey who put the game away, serving from 22-10 to the game-one final, 25-10.
“Knock on wood we are injury free,” Winaker laughed. “I have a lot of experienced volleyball players, and even as I go into the bench I have experience; players that play year-round and not just in volleyball season, and that is excellent for the program.”
Game-two saw much of the same, with Abby Claborn serving Fallston to a 7-1 lead and extending it to as much as 21-8 before wrapping the game with a 25-13 finish.
“At the net, me and Rachel just pounded at the ball and just kept hitting them hard like we usually do,” Webb said. “Just kept playing our game.”
Webb ended her night leading the team in kills with 14, and Claborn made 30 assists, while Holehouse net 12 kills and was an ablsolute surgeon with her serves.
Opening the Couagars with six consecutive points in game three, Holehouse took the serve seven Fallston-rotations later and put away the 25-8 match-winner with a jump-serve for an ace.
“We have been working hard to get where we are today,” Holehouse said. “I guess with my serving, I was just trying to pick out the weak players, but there weren’t many on Elkton.
“I am not feeling that confident on that right now,” Holehouse said of her jump-serve. “But, hopefully, we will put it down in the playoffs.”
Holehouse served five aces on the night, and earned 21 service points on just 25 attempts.
Once again claiming the UCBAC crown, the Cougars will next use their top-seed bye in the 2A East to watch their next opponent, the winner of Bel Air and Edgewood, in trying to repeat their way to an appearance in the regional finals.
Despite the loss, Elkton Head Coach Chris Spencer was happy with the girls’ performance, and thinks the games will help them be prepared for their first-round date with playoff host Rising Sun.
“We had a real good season and no one really thought we would be in this position,” Spencer said. “We had two returning players, so we are a very new team. They played real well, I am real proud of them,
“Fallston is the best for a reason. We got a taste of what the best is like, and we know Rising Sun is a similar caliber team.”
The Cougars, who started the season 6-0, have already beaten the Bobcats twice in the regular season, both times exiting the court in three straight games, and while not meeting the Rams in 2010, do share a common opponent in the recently defeated Elks, who beat Edgewood in four games during the regular season.”
“It feels good to get a win, and I feel that we are in a positive upswing going into the post-season,” Winaker said. “We just need to stick to the fundamentals. If we can start with a good pass and get our serves in, that will give our team a chance at some quality attacks. That’s how you win games.”
Fallston 3, Elkton 0
FALL 25 25 25
ELK 10 13 8
