Conference Kings of the VMAC
The Virginia Metro Athletic Conference held their conference championship match November 13, 2020 at Guardian Christian Academy in Chesterfield, Virginia. The top seeded Guardian Christian (GCA) Royal Knights hosted the Kings of Grace Christian Academy (Mechanicsville, VA). Grace entered the…
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Continue ReadingThe Virginia Metro Athletic Conference held their conference championship match November 13, 2020 at Guardian Christian Academy in Chesterfield, Virginia. The top seeded Guardian Christian (GCA) Royal Knights hosted the Kings of Grace Christian Academy (Mechanicsville, VA). Grace entered the match after defeating the Falcons from Grove Christian 3 sets to 1 on Tuesday night. This made the fourth meeting of the season between the local rivals with Guardian winning the three previous meetings. Grace Christian entered the match with an 11-9 record. GCA was 8-7 during the regular season in a rebuilding season.
Grace came in on a three match winning streak led by Seniors Setter Allie Beddard and Outside Hitter Kyla Taylor, Junior Opposite Emma Dayton, Freshman Setter Kelsey Boltz and 8th grader Kalei Taylor. The team plays very solid defense and is very efficient offensively which led to a very strong season despite injuries to starters Alyssa Vaughan and Ava Piland. The team continues to improve having 10 wins last season and 4 the previous season.
GCA came into the match with a majority of the offensive load coming from 2019 First Team All State selection, Outside Hitter Megan James Megan James 5'7" | OH Guardian Christian | 2022 State VA . The 5’7 Junior joined the 200/200 club this abbreviated season with 200 kills and 200 digs in just 16 matches. She ranks in the top 5 in kills, digs and aces on the season. The team developed a lot during the season having lost four starters from a team that made states last season. The 2020 Royal Knights featured several players who had never played before the season and won starting roles including 8th Grade Middle Hitter Brooke Kavanaugh and former gymnast Freshman Charlotte Wood. Setter Junior Jessie Rager took on a larger role this season as the only returning setter and had a strong season.
The match started out in surprising fashion with Grace Christian dominating the first set in a 25-10 win. They had leads of 9-3 and 16-4 during their string start to the match. Set two started very much the same way with Grace jumping out to a 7-2 lead. GCA Freshman Charlotte Wood went on a four point serving run to close Grace’s lead to 14-10. A kill from the backrow later in the set by GCA’s Megan James Megan James 5'7" | OH Guardian Christian | 2022 State VA closed the margin to 17-15 for Grace. GCA closed to 23-22 with a block from 8th Grade Brooklyn Cavanaugh but Grace closed out the second set with a GCA missed serve and an ace to end the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Strong offensive performances by Kyla and Kalei Taylor carried the load for the Kings.
Set three saw GCA jump out to a 6-3 lead and was extremely tight through out the remainder of the set with 7 more ties. Megan James Megan James 5'7" | OH Guardian Christian | 2022 State VA was dominant with 12 kills in the set and ended the set with a tape serve ace for the 25-23 win. GCA jumped up again to a 6-3 lead in the fourth and held control throughout the set. Grace struggled the entire set with hitting errors and out of system play. They rallied after being down 20-10 with solid serving from Freshman Setter Kelsey Boltz and kills by Kyla Taylor but fell short, 25-16 to tie the match at 2 sets a piece, forcing a deciding fifth set to 15.
Grace Christian started off the set serving, but a quick kill my Megan James Megan James 5'7" | OH Guardian Christian | 2022 State VA gave Guardian a 1-0 lead. A GCS hitting error and James ace led to a 3-0 lead before a kill by Kyla Taylor won the first point of the set for Grace Christian. a quick side out and additional point grew the lead to 5-1 causing Grace to call a timeout to regroup. trading points back and forth over the next few minutes caused another timeout by Grace, trailing 8-3. James continued to her offensive onslaught with multiple kills to build a 11-6 lead for GCA. Grace’s Kalei Taylor crushed a kill down the line to end the streak and seemed to settle the Kings down and allowed them to catch their breath and regroup. James got the next kill to make it 12-7. After GCA service and hitting errors closed it to 12-9, James put down another kill to make it 13-9 for Guardian Christian. Kyla Taylor got a kill on the next swing to make it 13-10. Another kill by James gave the Royal Knights championship point and a 14-10 lead in the game to 15. GCA Service and Hitting errors made it 14-12. Sophomore Campbell Kirby served an ace to close the gap to 14-13, timeout GCA. Consecutive kills by Kyla Taylor gave Grace Christian their first lead of the set, 15-14 and championship point. Timeout by GCA. A prolonged rally ended with a misplayed ball ending the match, securing the championship for Grace Christian School.
In the loss, Megan James Megan James 5'7" | OH Guardian Christian | 2022 State VA had 19 kills, 7 aces and 24 digs. Jessie Rager added in 13 digs and two aces. Freshman Charlotte Wood added in 9 digs. Sophomore Shelby Stevens had 8 digs. Brooklyn Kavanaugh has 4 kills and 4 blocks for the Royal Knights to close the season. No stats were made available for Grace Christian.
Grace finished the regular season as the Kings of the Virginia Metro Athletic Conference and also swept the Middle school championships earlier in the evening. Grace finishes the season 12-9 in a historic season. Guardian closes out the season 8-8 in their runner up season.