SVD clinched

FORT DEFIANCE — Jordan Leake positioned herself perfectly under the ball, setting it for Becca Houff to send it to the house and finally give Fort Defiance the outright regular season district championship it has been longing for since 1990.

In an epic battle against Stuarts Draft, Fort Defiance survived a Game 3 letdown to top the Cougars 25-20, 25-16, 13-25, 25-23 to clinch the Southern Valley District regular season championship.

“It feels great,” Houff said. “We have been working hard all season for this and it feels great to get something back.”

The win guarantees Fort a spot in the Region III tournament as well as a first-round bye in the district tournament that begins on Monday. The Cougars fell from second place to third behind Waynesboro. The Little Giants swept R.E. Lee on Tuesday night to hang on to the No. 2 seed.

“We just got inspired this year by practices and coaches,” said Fort’s Morgan Bell. “We knew we had to push it with some extra effort.”

On Thursday, Fort will travel to Waynesboro for its final match of the regular season with a chance to go undefeated in the district. A Waynesboro loss on Thursday would create a tie for second, with the other first-round bye at stake. If Waynesboro wins, they will finish one match behind Fort and wrap up second.

“The pressure is off for first, but you want to show what you are made of,” said Fort coach Lynn Alexander. “It’s been a very difficult district this season. We all lost seniors last year… I’ve been really impressed how we have pulled together.”

In the Cougars’ and Indians’ first meeting, Draft took a 2-0 lead before the Indians rallied to win the match in five games. On Tuesday, the roles looked to be reversed.

The Indians jumped to a quick 2-0 lead, demolishing Draft in the second game 25-16. With a chance to put the district away with a sweep, the momentum shifted from Fort’s corner and it began to unravel.

“We came out flat,” Alexander said. “Our momentum just goes up and down, and I don’t know where it goes. We could be winning and it just gets quiet.”

After taking a 16-10 lead on a Ariel Christy kill, Draft’s Erin Brown rallied off seven straight points including an ace to put the Cougars up 23-10. The scoring spurt saw kills from Christy, Chayla Burkholder and McKenna Carter.

“We gave Fort a tough game, we just overall have things to work on,” said Draft coach Kami Meeteer.

Fort’s Katie Dunsmore finally stopped the run with a kill, but the damage was already done and Draft took the 25-13 win.

In Game 4, Fort struggled to take back the momentum, allowing Draft to garner a 15-10 lead. A kill from Houff started a 5-1 run that put Fort behind by one point. It wasn’t until Leake faked a set over the net, taking Draft off guard that the Indians knotted the game at 23.

A Draft error gave the Indians match point, setting up Houff to end the game on a kill.