Fort perfect in SVD

Fort Defiance capped off its Southern Valley District championship season with a four-game win on Thursday night to finish the year undefeated in the district.

The Indians hung on after a tough loss in Game 1 to take the next three from a surging Little Giants team that had yet to lose in October. Fort won 24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 25-21.

“I’m elated,” said Fort coach Lynn Alexander. “I can’t ask for anything better. They have asked me to be harder and hold high standards … The thing is they ask for it and they let me do it. “

On Tuesday, Fort Defiance stopped Stuarts Draft in four games to clinch the Southern Valley District regular season championship and earn a first-round bye when the district tournament begins on Monday.

All the pressure was on the Little Giants. Waynesboro held on to the second seed entering Thursday’s game with Stuarts Draft trailing by one match. The Cougars won their match in five games at Rockbridge, knotting the second seed yet again. Prior to Thursday’s match, the schools flipped a coin to decide who would get the second bye if no other tiebreaker could be used.

Draft won the flip and will get to sit the sidelines on Monday.

After the match, Alexander was ecstatic that her team of six seniors was consistent enough to finish the district 10-0.

“Even though we had first, they really wanted to say they were undefeated,” Alexander said. “Waynesboro had a lot to fight for.”

Fort senior Katie Dunsmore, who finished the match with three blocks and 13 kills, said that practice was the key to the Indians’ perfect season.

“We worked so hard to get to this point, Waynesboro is a good team, but we just wanted it and worked for it,” she said.

The future for the Indians is bright as well — Fort’s JV team defeated Waynesboro 25-21, 25-21 to finished the season 15-1 with no losses in the district.

The Little Giants will enter the Southern Valley District Tournament as the No. 3 seed, and will need at least two wins in the tournament to qualify for the Region III tournament.

“It is added pressure but you can’t think of it that way you just have to go out there and have fun,” said Waynesboro coach Lori Aleshire.

The Little Giants relied on a heavy serve from Jonquil Brown and Rachel Binda’s powerful attack in Game 1 to hold the Indians at bay. Waynesboro led by as much as four points before unforced errors allowed the Indians to climb back into it.

With a 25-24 lead, Waynesboro’s Jolie Dudly and Binda combined for a block to seal the win and take all the momentum into Game 2.

The Indians again took advantage of key Waynesboro mistakes to take Game 2 25-21 then run up the score in Game 3, holding a 9-3 lead at one point of the match. The Little Giants made a game of it, but still fell 25-20.

In the final game, Fort immediately asserted its dominance, taking a 10-1 lead. Dudley scored a quick ace and kills from Katie Doyle and Shayla Jackson knotted the game at 19.

Aleshire said that her team’s overall depth impressed her on Thursday.

“I had a couple of people come in during the fourth game and played their hearts out,” she said.