Draft in three

STUARTS DRAFT — In a match that was up in the air every game, key setting led to Stuarts Draft kills as the Cougars swept Waynesboro 25-20, 26-24, 25-22 Thursday night.
The Little Giants took the early 3-1 lead in the first game after several kill attempts by Draft sailed out of play.
After exchanging points, Cougars setter Erin Brown caught the Little Giants off guard with a cut shot, just clearing the net to give Draft the lead again at 8-7 in the first game.
With the game continuing to seesaw, a crucial mistake, or a stellar play, could decide who would claim the first game.
With the score 18-16 in favor of the Cougars, Draft’s Kamron Johnson hit a kill attempt into the net.
Teammate Jessi Ramsey answered back though with an important block to extend the lead back to two.
Brown took the serve, acing the ball off of the back line to give the Cougars a comfortable lead on the way to winning the first game.
“I thought it went down to the wire,” Waynesboro coach Lori Aleshire said. “We have a lot of young players in key role positions. Once we start working a little more as a team we can push over that hump, but we have to work to get over the hump.”
The second set saw the Little Giants in another game-winning situation.
With the lead 24-22 and one point away from tying the match, Draft’s Aliya Stevenson put away a perfect set from Brown.
After scoring the next point, Linsay Iseli put a kill cross-court to give the Cougars the lead. A Chayla Burkholder ace ended the game 26-24 with Draft holding a 2-0 lead at home.
“We played hard [against Wilson],” Draft coach Kami Meeteer said. “We knew this was district so we tried to come out and win. I think we succeeded.”
Brown was the cog that kept the five other on-court Cougars moving smoothly, throwing down kills and hustling for digs.
“Your setter is your quarterback running the team,” Meeteer stated. “She works really hard. She was on JV last year and is working really hard for me.”
Brown’s 28 assists played a huge part in the Cougars first district victory.
“We work on [sets] every day in practice. It’s still not where I want it to be, but I’m working on it,” Brown said. “It feels really good to know that my sets contribute to their kills.”
The Cougars found themselves down in the third game 21-18 before Johnson’s kill narrowed the gap again.
Four straight points gave Draft the lead over the younger Little Giants.
Fittingly, Brown ended the game on serve, acing the Little Giants on back-to-back points to end it.
Stuarts Draft (1-1, 1-0 Southern Valley) travels to Harrisonburg Tuesday.
Waynesboro (0-1, 0-1 Southern Valley) looks to get over the hump after a game full of growing pains for the first time varsity Little Giants.