Holy Cross Earns their Number One Ranking

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holy Cross got a late start to the season. Their first match was not until September 12. Perhaps that was to account for [player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman'] and her commitment to the United States national team, earning a gold medal while participating in two international events in Europe. They appear to have caught up with the competition now.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last weekend they were able to take down number one Flint Hill in three. <strong> [player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman'] </strong>led the charge with 22 kills and 6 blocks while <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235324' first='Rowan' last='Johnson']</strong> also contributed five blocks. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244159' first='Jaylyn' last='Simon']</strong> ran a 5/1 and dished out 35 assists. After the win the Washington Post voted them the top team in the DMV area.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last night the number three team Bishop O'Connell came to Holy Cross in a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) battle for number one. It would also be a battle for number one in the DMV area. Plenty of talent on both team's rosters. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The gym was packed to almost full capacity. Not a lot of seats to accommodate a large crowd. The match turned out to be a little disappointing. Holy Cross easily won the serve/receive battle and swept the Knights in three 25-20, 25-17 and 25-10. More than 60 percent of the Bishop O'Connell passes did not cross the three meter line, forcing setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec']</strong> to set outside. The Tartan blockers were waiting for them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Three of the Knights pin hitters finished with negative numbers, i.e., had more errors than kills. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec']</strong> finished the night with just 13 assists. That is a number she normally can achieve in one set. Taking out the hitting numbers for [player_tooltip player_id='238341' first='Teodora' last='Stamenkovic'] the rest of the Knights hitting percentage sat at a woeful .014, though they were mostly swinging at out of system sets. The one player Holy Cross had difficulty stopping was Teodora, who finished with five kills in six attempts. She had one kill taken away from her when [player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec'] hit the net trying to set a tight pass. In the last two matches the sophomore has 12 kills in 13 attempts.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These two teams have a friendly rivalry. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec']</strong> played for Metro 17 last year (see photo above). Metro 17 qualified for the gold bracket in the junior nationals, perhaps the first Chesapeake team to ever qualify for gold in an Open Division. Also on that team are three Flint Hill players, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180295' first='Ryla' last='Jones']</strong>,<strong> [player_tooltip player_id='180283' first='Natalie' last='Nguyen']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='233010' first='Mickhaila' last='Murray']</strong>. That puts six players from one club on the top three high schools in the area. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The rivalry brought out a lot of emotion to start the game. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser']</strong> blocked <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong> twice in the first set. Unfortunately, it was not enough to change the outcome.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the opener <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181304' first='Sarah' last='Jeremias']</strong> opened it up serving a couple aces to give Holy Cross an early 4-0 lead. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong>, voted the top server in one of the two international events she played in showed why by acing the Knights back row with a couple more bullet serves to up the lead to 9-3. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Knights battled back with one of the two blocks of Sellman by Bowser closing the gap to 18-16. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235324' first='Rowan' last='Johnson'] </strong>and Sellman returned the favor with a block of Bowser and after three ace serves from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244159' first='Jaylyn' last='Simon']</strong> the score ran up to 21-16. The second block of Sellman by Bowser put the score at 21-18. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235324' first='Rowan' last='Johnson']</strong> ended any thought of a comeback with a kill on a quick set in the middle to make it 22-18. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the second set the Knights got behind early again. Back and front row attacks by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181304' first='Sarah' last='Jeremias'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong> fueled the offense. The Knights defense had trouble stopping the barrage. Eventually they were able to battle back after two ace serves by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec'] </strong>and two uncharacteristic hitting errors from Sellman to tie the game at 15-15. The Tartans went on a 10-2 run after that to win set two 25-17.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The third set was no contest. Holy Cross continued to take advantage of the Knights struggling passing and finished the sweep with a 25-10 victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>History has shown that between these two teams whoever finishes on top of the WCAC when the season ends does not win the championship. Back in 2016 O'Connell swept Holy Cross both times they played to finish first in the WCAC. Holy Cross came back to beat them in five in the championship match. In 2021 and 2022 Holy Cross finished first in the WCAC. The two teams split in 2021 but Holy Cross won the tiebreaker, winning their match in four while the Knights took five to win. In 2022 the Tartans beat the Knights in the lone match they played. When it came down to the WCAC championship match, the Knights won both times, sweeping them on both occasions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For [player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman'], she has yet to win a WCAC championship. Her frosh year no championship was played because of CO-VID. The Knights went on to win the next two years, even though Sellman was voted co-player of the year in 2021 and player of the year in 2022. She would probably trade another player of the year trophy to take home the championship trophy her senior year for Holy Cross.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Chesapeake Chirps:</strong> Two accomplishments by juniors. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181299' first='Ada' last='McCoy']</strong>, who plays for Musselman in West Virginia, but for Blue Ridge in the Chesapeake got kill number 1,000 last week. Over at Hidden Valley setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235285' first='Calli' last='Anderson']</strong> reached 1,500 assists. Got anymore milestones let me know and I will include them here. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->