WILSON EXTRA: Strasburg knocks off Wilson

RICHMOND – After sweeping Strasburg on its home court in the Region B championship match, Wilson Memorial knew the Rams wanted revenge.

Strasburg got it when it counted, never allowing the Green Hornets to get in any semblance of a rhythm in Richmond on Friday in the Group A semifinals at the Siegel Center, en route to a 25-15, 16-25, 25-10, 25-23 win to advance to today’s Group A championship.

“It’s tough,” said Wilson coach Kim Claytor, wiping tears from her eyes. “You work all summer, start August first and always have that goal to be here.”

The Hornets hit their goal, but left their game back in Augusta County.

After knotting the match at one game each, the Rams took the Hornets out of their game in the third, grabbing an 11-8 lead and using a 14-2 spurt the rest of the way to seal that game.

While Strasburg was getting its hits in, the Green Hornets were struggling, unable to put back-to-back points on the board during all of Game 3.

“That’s what hurt us today, we just couldn’t pass,” Claytor said. “If we don’t pass, you can’t get a set and you can’t get a hit. Without our offense it was more like survival.”

In the fourth game, it looked like the Hornets would survive and take it to five. But after going up four at 18-14, the Rams put star Jenna Smoot back on the floor and the junior quickly took over.

In that decisive Game 4, the Rams began to chip away and caught the Hornets at 18 with a Jaclyn Ayers kill.

A Kala Guy kill and a Tiffany Crosby block gave the lead back to Wilson at 20-18, but that’s when Smoot took over – slapping down back-to-back kills to give the Rams a 22-21 lead. Another Ayers kill made it 23-21 and a Wilson carry put it at match point.

It was only fitting that Smoot, who shut down Guy and Noël Bartley on the frontline, scored the final point by punching the ball back over with a block.

Smoot, a member of the last year’s team that won the Group A title, said Strasburg went into this match with revenge on its mind after the Region B sweep.

“We felt we didn’t play that great up there,” she said. “And they played the best they had all year.”

After scoring 12 kills against Strasburg in the regional final, Bartley was held in check in the Friday’s state semis – only able to muster eight kills through the four games.

“I didn’t play very well today,” the junior said.

After spending the first game watching the Strasburg offense work, the Hornets came alive in the second. After falling behind 9-8, a Crosby kill tied it at nine and Bartley put together three straight points – a block followed by back-to-back kills – that allowed the Hornets to go up 13-9.

Guy ended the game with a kill, but her career in a Green Hornet uniform wouldn’t last much longer.

“We should be proud to make it this far,” she said. “It was fun.”