Big Surprises in the District Playoffs
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There were some interesting contests in the District playoff matches. In some cases it was “out with the old and in with the new”. In others it was more like “same old same old”. Below are the champions of the…
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Continue ReadingThere were some interesting contests in the District playoff matches. In some cases it was “out with the old and in with the new”. In others it was more like “same old same old”. Below are the champions of the 9 Northern Virginia Districts.
Chantilly Chargers Overcome Oakton Cougars
If there was a match to watch this was the one. It was a tough task for Oakton to figure out how to stop the high flying Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA , who was the principal piece of the offense for Chantilly. They also got contributions from left side Samantha Holobow and right side Aspen Nardelli Aspen Nardelli 5'11" | RS Chantilly | 2023 State VA but Mambu was the go to girl they had to stop. The Cougars were a little more balanced with Seliz Aktuglu Seliz Aktuglu 5'9" | OH Oakton | 2024 State VA , Jocelyn Shortle Jocelyn Shortle 5'9" | OH Oakton | 2024 State VA , Jade Brooks Jade Brooks 6'0" | MB Oakton | 2023 State VA and frosh Julie Xu Julie Xu 5'11" | RS Oakton | 2026 State VA sharing the offensive load, but Seliz is the player Oakton relies on the most.
The first set saw Chantilly run away with the game 25-17. Chantilly also appeared to have control of game two jumping out to a 23-18 lead. A Katherine Mahieu block of Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA to make it 23-19 appeared to turn things around. A Jocelyn Shortle Jocelyn Shortle 5'9" | OH Oakton | 2024 State VA back row attack made it 23-21 and a series of Chantilly errors put the Cougars ahead 24-23.
Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA had a kill in the back row to tie it 24-24. The teams traded points after errors but Samantha Hollobow Samantha Hollobow 5'8" | OH Chantilly | 2023 State VA came through with a tip to put Chantilly up again 26-25. Frosh Julie Xu Julie Xu 5'11" | RS Oakton | 2026 State VA brought her clutch to the game, rifling a kill off the block of Mambu to tie the game again. With Mambu back in the front row it was time for her to deal, starting with a kill to put the Chargers up again 27-26. The Cougars were able to dig the next attempted Mambu kill, but it went too far over the net and Mambu put the final touches on the dig with a two handed block/kill to the floor to put Chantilly up two games to none.
Oakton picked up some confidence from their game two performance. Jade Brooks Jade Brooks 6'0" | MB Oakton | 2023 State VA hammered a couple quick sets to the floor that energized the crowd and the team. Two incredible digs by libero Sadee Gedse Sadee Gedse 5'6" | DS/L Oakton | 2025 State VA and Seliz Aktuglu Seliz Aktuglu 5'9" | OH Oakton | 2024 State VA on Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA attempted kills put Oakton up 13-11. Too many missed serves by Oakton hurt them throughout the match and it hurt them through this stretch as Chantilly was able to claw their way to a 19-19 tie. A Seliz Aktuglu Seliz Aktuglu 5'9" | OH Oakton | 2024 State VA kill, a shanked pass and a Joyce Shortle back row attack put Oakton on top 22-19.
Another errant Oakton serve gave Chantilly the ball back but they could not take advantage and lost serve. Another Aktuglu kill put the score at 24-20 and a shanked dig on a free ball gave Oakton their first win, 25-20.
Game four was the wild one. It was more a battle of the officiating crew and the Chantilly coach. It started when the up ref called the Oakton setter Ellen Noh Ellen Noh 5'3" | S Oakton | 2024 State VA for a back row attack on an attempted dump into the blocker’s hands. When he was informed the setter was in the front row he reversed his decision, ruling that Chantilly had interfered with her attempt to set and gave the point to Oakton. Daniel Molina tried to argue it should have been a replay since the setter hit it into the block but he failed to sway the officials. Back to back doubles calls against two different Chantilly setters further increased his anger and the first red card was issued. Oakton won game four 25-21 and the second red card was issued to Molina after game four had ended, giving Oakton a 1-0 lead to start game five.
Oakton could not take advantage, missing their first two serves. Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA and right side Aspen Nardelli Aspen Nardelli 5'11" | RS Chantilly | 2023 State VA took over after that. Mambu got a number of kills to get the team to 14 and Aspen got the game winning kill to give Chantilly the game five win 15-6.
It was a big win for Lameen Mambu Lameen Mambu 6'0" | OH Chantilly | 2025 State #64 Nation VA and defensive specialist Angelina Barrera Angelina Barrera 5'2" | DS/L Chantilly | 2023 State VA . Back in 2018 their older sisters Mujay Mambu and Adriana Barrera played on the Chantilly state championship team. Angelina and Lameen hope to repeat that accomplishment in 2022.
One final note: both liberos, sophomores Nola Murphy Nola Murphy 5'6" | DS/L Chantilly | 2025 State VA and Sadee Gedse Sadee Gedse 5'6" | DS/L Oakton | 2025 State VA played excellent games. Sadee made some digs from Mambu attempted kills that were sensational.
Dulles District Tournament
I was able to watch the semi-final match between Dominion and Loudoun Valley. Dominion has a young team that relies on sophomore setters Emma Adiacontei Emma Adiacontei S Dominion | 2025 VA and Juliet Correll Juliet Correll DS/L Dominion | 2025 VA . They also have sophomore middle Abigail Vasak Abigail Vasak MB Dominion | 2025 State VA and right side Kaitlyn Demitz Kaitlyn Demitz 5'11" | RS Dominion | 2025 State VA provide a share of their offense. They do have veteran leadership in senior middle Maya Van Wyngaardt Maya Van Wyngaardt 6'1" | MB Dominion | 2023 State VA and outside Kennedy Seekford Kennedy Seekford 5'5" | DS/L Dominion | 2023 State VA (pictured below) to share with the offense. Senior Haley Gill Haley Gill 5'7" | DS/L Dominion | 2023 State #197 Nation VA is perhaps the top libero in the class of 2023 and did not disappoint with a number of amazing digs and precision passing.
Dominion was able to sweep Loudoun Valley getting nine kills from Seekford and seven from Demitz. Seekford also contributed six aces in the three sets. Haley Gill Haley Gill 5'7" | DS/L Dominion | 2023 State #197 Nation VA had four aces and 17 digs, including a dig on a hard driven ball in which she had to dive to her left to pull out a one armed save. Those are the kind of digs that get the juices flowing.
Loudoun Valley had their own senior libero in Carly Zimmet Carly Zimmet 5'4" | DS/L Loudoun Valley | 2023 State VA . You have to love her enthusiasm on the court and her hustle. There was not a ball that had yet to hit the floor that she did not attempt to make a flying dive for. Amy Wood Amy Wood 5'9" | OH Loudoun Valley | 2023 State VA was a big time terminator from the left side. Don’t know if it was a sister combination, but senior Madelyn Helm Madelyn Helm MB Loudoun Valley | 2023 State VA and sophomore Julia Helm Julia Helm 5'11" | MB Loudoun Valley | 2025 VA shared the middle blocking responsibilities.
Dominion went on to sweep Broad Run to win the Dulles District tournament. Broad Run had to beat 10 time Class 4 champ Loudoun County and number one seed Rock Ridge to advance to the finals. It appears Loudoun County’s ten year reign of championships have come to an end. Rock Ridge, Millbrook, James Wood and Dominion are the four teams in the Class 4 Division to survive into the Regional championship.
Other District championships
Langley beat Marshall for a third time, sweeping them to win the Liberty District.
Hayfield also beat Edison for a third time to win the National District, winning in four.
Colgan also beat Forest Park for the third time, sweeping them to win the Cardinal District. Colgan is the defending Class 6 State champions.
Battlefield swept Patriot to win the Cedar Run District.
It took four but Riverside beat Briar Woods for the Potomac District crown. This is another young team with left side junior Adriana Perodin, right side sophomore Brianna Holladay Brianna Holladay 6'2" | MB Riverside | 2025 State VA and sophomore middle Simone Schaefer Simone Schaefer 5'11" | OH Riverside | 2025 State VA leading the offense. They will lose their senior setters Ava Ray Ava Ray 5'7" | S Riverside | 2023 State VA (pictured below) and Sage Duggal Sage Duggal 5'5" | S Riverside | 2023 State VA .
Alexandria City had lost only two games all season and they were both to Robinson. They got some revenge in the Patriot District championship by beating them in four games.
Millbrook also got some revenge against previously undefeated James Woods. They had lost to them twice during the regular season. During the Northwestern District championship they swept James Woods, led by the 37 assists from setter Madison Koeller Madison Koeller 6'0" | S Millbrook | 2023 State VA and the 13 kills and 11 digs by Berkeley Konrady. Gracie Behneke also contributed 13 kills. Super frosh Kennedy Spaid Kennedy Spaid 5'11" | OH James Wood | 2026 State VA had 12 kills in the loss.
Chesapeake Chirps: Normally when I get to a game I am a late arrival because I coach high school so I am coming from a practice. The game has already started so since I am not that familiar with many of the faces I only write the numbers down if the player has done something that has impressed me. The first players I tend to notice are the left sides. In the Dominion/Loudoun Valley game it was quite different. The first players that stood out were the two liberos. When I looked up the rosters to see their name I then knew why. Haley Gill Haley Gill 5'7" | DS/L Dominion | 2023 State #197 Nation VA and Carly Zimmet Carly Zimmet 5'4" | DS/L Loudoun Valley | 2023 State VA – they also impressed me for their club team Paramount….I did not get to mention Chantilly setter Jaylin Price Jaylin Price 5'2" | S Chantilly | 2023 State VA . She is a very consistent setter and the team runs smoothly with her in the back row. At 5’2″ she is a bit small to be playing front row and that is where Chantilly struggled a bit. They do have some promising young setters in sophomore Hala Younes and frosh Sarah Kim Sarah Kim 5'6" | S Chantilly | 2026 VA , but youth brings inconsistency. As I told one parent, at the varsity level the game moves fast. A frosh will have more downs than ups. That is just the nature of learning the game and playing against more experienced players. It is not like club where you are usually playing with your own age group.