Huskies Fill the Number One Spot in Top Ten

In college volleyball a Nebraska/Creighton game brought the largest attendance ever for a college volleyball match at over 14,000. This weekend Colorado State had their first sell out, attracting over 8,000 to their game, the second largest attendance for a volleyball game. Wisconsin/Florida broke the record last weekend for attendance at a volleyball match with over 16,000. Go out and support your local volleyball team. It is a pretty cool sport.   At the high school gyms I've been impressed with the attendance. Flint Hill has an enthusiastic student section that gets pretty loud. Langley draws a good crowd. I was at a Justice game where there was a very lively student section with lots of cowgirls and cowboys rooting for their Wolves and crying out "boom" whenever [player_tooltip player_id='181205' first='Helen' last='Frankovich'] prepared to find the floor with one of her spikes. The Stonebridge Bulldogs like to do their bark and the Fairfax Lions bring in a good crowd despite their struggles.   It is against this back drop that we put together our second top ten high schools for the Northern Virginia area. The top four have not changed, just moved around position wise but they should remain fairly fluid. It would not surprise me to see Langley play Colgan in the Class 6 State championship for public schools and Flint Hill do battle with Bishop O'Connell for the private school state championship honors.   Flint Hill (4-0) - They had a big sweep against their ISL division rival Georgetown Day. You have to go all the way back to 2011 before you find a set loss by the Huskies in the ISL. They travel to Florida for a weekend tournament. They are led by the power hitting on the left side from [player_tooltip player_id='181099' first='Sydney' last='Bryant'] and the middle attack of [player_tooltip player_id='180295' first='Ryla' last='Jones']. They have yet to lose a set this year.   Colgan Sharks (7-0) - Another team that has failed to lose a set. They also won the Virginia showcase tournament down in Richmond and plan to compete in a tournament in Virginia Beach this weekend (Endless Summer). A sweep of Battlefield last week was impressive. Colgan is led by middle [player_tooltip player_id='181185' first='Brielle' last='Kemavor'], setter Alexis Scipione, libero [player_tooltip player_id='207594' first='Paula' last='Sigurani'] and outside [player_tooltip player_id='209790' first='Aubrey' last='Hatch']. The defending Class 6 champs seem to be on a mission to repeat their 2021 Class 6 State Championship.. <img class="wp-image-211282" style="width: 150px;" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/07/brielle.jpg" alt="">   Bishop O'Connell (7-0) - Last week the Knights outscored their opponents by an average score of 25-7.5. This does not include the forfeit win over Ryken, who had a CO-VID outbreak and could not field enough players to form a competitive team. The Knights have lost just one set all year. [player_tooltip player_id='181098' first='Grace' last='Maria'] leads the attack from the outside and [player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser'] is a difference maker in the middle. [player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec'] sets and contributes offense when in the front row. [player_tooltip player_id='212889' first='Hannah' last='Kotb'] has been showing some solid defensive prowess as the libero. <img class="wp-image-184291" style="width: 150px;" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/03/Madison.jpg" alt="">   Langley High School (8-0) - It is tough to drop two places when you failed to lose a set since the last ranking, especially getting a sweep against top ten Stonebridge. But I consider these top four pretty fluid. Langley still has a young team, which should get stronger as the season progresses. [player_tooltip player_id='181298' first='Ana' last='Toumazatos'] contributes to the offense from the left side, [player_tooltip player_id='181307' first='Leni' last='Stanton-Parker'] rotates between the middle and left side and produces at both positions. [player_tooltip player_id='180284' first='Chloe' last='Hokenson'] sets and provides the offense on the right side along with [player_tooltip player_id='180292' first='Riley' last='Buddie']. Erica Maebius contributes veteran leadership with her libero play.   George Marshall (6-1) - Their only loss was to Langley, but they had opportunities to win the first two sets that turned into two point losses, eventually losing the match 3-1. They recently swept Oakton, who are also ranked in the top ten. [player_tooltip player_id='181234' first='Samia' last='Sayd'] leads this offense, but this scrappy cast of characters all seem to fill their roles to find victories.   James Wood (6 - 0) - They have only lost one set. Two talented frosh, [player_tooltip player_id='181302' first='Kennedy' last='Spaid'] and [player_tooltip player_id='181280' first='Brenna' last='Corbin'] are the top two players in kills. They also have juniors [player_tooltip player_id='180282' first='Paige' last='Ahakuelo'] and [player_tooltip player_id='180286' first='Hannah' last='McCullough'] share setting duties. They lack height at the net but they battle for every point, with excellent ball control. That starts with 5'4" libero [player_tooltip player_id='181280' first='Brenna' last='Corbin'] hitting outside and playing six rotations, allowing Carsyn Vincent to play libero. The 5'8" middle Ella Kelchner leads the team in blocks.   Oakton (4-1) - They were swept by Marshall last week for their first loss of the season. They are led by two outsides in juniors [player_tooltip player_id='209792' first='Jocelyn' last='Shortle'] and [player_tooltip player_id='209789' first='Seliz' last='Aktuglu'] to lead their offense. [player_tooltip player_id='181188' first='Jade' last='Brooks'] runs the quicks in the middle and libero Sydney Hess and defensive specialist Sadee Nicole Gedse control the defense.   Millbrook (7-0) - Another Winchester team rolling through their competition. Setter [player_tooltip player_id='181177' first='Madison' last='Koeller'] directs the offense. Sophomore left side Berkeley Konrady and frosh libero [player_tooltip player_id='218149' first='Giselle' last='Norris'] provide some hope for the future. An end of September match against James Wood could decide the favorite for the Northwestern District. Millbrook has some length with six players listed at 5'10" or greater. James Woods only has one player listed at 5'10" or greater.   Alexandria City (6-1) - They continue to keep on winning with the duo of [player_tooltip player_id='181179' first='Chloe' last='Wilmot'] and [player_tooltip player_id='181178' first='Milan' last='Rex']. Don't know how long that will last. After losing to Robinson in five they went on to win their next three games, two of them by sweeps. Of their six wins, four of them have been by sweeps. Last week they beat St Johns in four, giving the Cadets their first loss of the season.   Stone Bridge (10-3) - They were undefeated until they lost their setter [player_tooltip player_id='209175' first='Trisha' last='Guevara'] to concussion protocol prior to a game against Langley. The Saxons swept them and two more losses in tournament play, one to Briar Woods leaves them with three losses. [player_tooltip player_id='180289' first='Lilah' last='Stevens'] continues to be their big hitter from the left side. Junior Gabriella Flamish is a strong presence on the right side at 6'1".   Others given consideration:   James Madison (7-3) - Two of their three losses have come against top ten opponents Langley and Marshall. Setter [player_tooltip player_id='111510' first='Natalie' last='Lauer'] runs the offense and libero [player_tooltip player_id='209800' first='Sydney' last='Pham'] stitches together consistent passing while playing a solid defense.   Battlefield (8-3) - They were being considered for the top ten then lost in five to Freedom. Two of their other losses have been to top ten teams Colgan and Oakton. Sophomore hitter [player_tooltip player_id='181311' first='Skyler' last='Tennant'] sparks this offense.   Rock Ridge (8-3) - One of their three losses was to top ten Stone Bridge in five. Setter Ankita Kamath and left side [player_tooltip player_id='209791' first='Grace' last='Tucker'] contribute to their success.   Justice (4-0) - They are undefeated in their first four games. The offense consists of setting [player_tooltip player_id='181205' first='Helen' last='Frankovich'] outside and back row and hope for the best. They were to host a tournament this weekend.   Chesapeake Chirps; Just returned from the Endless Summer tournament. We'll write more about it later this week. The winners were Musselman in the Champion division. Timberlake Christian won II-a. Bishop O'Connell won II-b. York was the winner of III-a and Denbigh Baptist III-b. Hidden Valley won Division I, defeating a strong Grafton team 25-23, 25-23 in the semi-finals with [player_tooltip player_id='196556' first='Caleigh' last='Ponn'] finishing with 23 kills. Two of those kills came with the score 24-23 to win set and match point. This is from a sophomore who plays libero in club. They also beat Marshall in the finals 25-18, 25-19. More about that tournament later this week

In college volleyball a Nebraska/Creighton game brought the largest attendance ever for a college volleyball match at over 14,000. This weekend Colorado State had their first sell out, attracting over 8,000 to their game, the second largest attendance for a volleyball game. Wisconsin/Florida broke the record last weekend for attendance at a volleyball match with over 16,000. Go out and support your local volleyball team. It is a pretty cool sport.