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Like the good old days
Patriots volleyball head to 3A state title match
Friday, Nov. 20, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by BRIAN LEWIS
Northern's Krissy Tretick prepares for a block as Damascus' Rachel Wilson sets up the shot during the Patriots' three-game sweep Tuesday night.
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COLLEGE PARK — If Damascus wasn't intimidated by the public address announcer relaying Northern's past volleyball successes, one would think that maybe, just maybe they would have been intimidated somewhat by the team's play on the court.
The Patriots (18-0) secured their 11th state final appearance with a 25-14, 25-18, 25-23 sweep over the Hornets on Tuesday night at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum in the Class 3A state semifinals.
Northern will face River Hill, which rallied to defeat Towson in five games, for the 3A state championship at 7:30 Saturday night.
"We just knew that if we went out there and played our game, we couldn't be stopped," said Northern head coach Devin Hall, a fixture of some of those state teams of old.
During the pregame introduction, Northern's rich volleyball history was made clear to all when the announcer listed off eight championship teams between 1990 and 2001, including four straight from 1994 to 1997. The Patriots also had three final appearances in there and it's clear this year's team wants to get back to state prominence.
"It's about time [we got another state championship banner]," said Hall, who pumped her fist when the lengthy list was being related over the intercom system. "That's the thing we were saying when they announced [our titles]. And [junior setter] Chandler Mass said, ‘I think it's about time to add a 2009 to that.' So it's an exciting time for them."
"Northern's got such a history of volleyball," Damascus fourth-year head coach Carl Merry said. "They are a very good team. They have a few more weapons than we have."
Northern must have wanted an early night because it needed just 68 minutes to dispatch Damascus from the tournament. The two teams combined for just four ties and 13 lead changes, all but two of them coming before the 13th point of the match.
And it was in a match that Northern dominated almost from start to finish, the turning point occurred in Game 2.
Damascus (14-4) led 12-7 following a four-point run, but Northern called for timeout. Whatever was said in the huddle worked as Northern's Kaitlyn Schmeiser (3 kills, 2 digs) served up the next six points, the last three on service aces, to put the Patriots in front 14-12.
"I thought we could have played more consistent in serve-receive," Merry said.
Following a service error, Northern won four of the next five points on kills by Jasmine DeSilva (4 kills) and Krissy Tretick (7 kills, team-high 7 digs), an ace by Swann and a double-team block by DeSilva and Swann.
"We practice knowing where our blockers are," said Swann, a junior, who recorded a match-best nine kills. "If they're on line, you want to do a cut. Basically my team helped me a lot on where to hit and I just tried to hit there."
The turning point
Though the Hornets tied the match at 18, Northern won seven of the next eight points to close out the match and take a commanding two games-to-none lead.
"We let it slip right there," Merry said, referring to Schmeiser's run. "We closed it a little bit, but that's the way it goes."
Hall said she she gave her team a choice.
"We kind of compared this to some other games [we've had] in the SMAC," Hall said. "I said, ‘We can make this a 3-0 game or a 3-2 game. Which one do we want?'"
It was clear the former option was more appealing as the Patriots scored the first four points of Game 3 and held leads of 6-3, 8-5 and 13-9. But Damascus would not go quietly.
The Hornets went on a four-point run — which tied their longest run of the night — to knot the match at 13. They later inched ahead 18-16 and 20-18.
"It's the point of focus every match," Hall said of battling from behind, which the Patriots were forced to do several times in the regional title match. "I guess now it's just become our joke that we've got to be behind in order to win, but we definitely really don't practice getting behind. They're a young team and they're going to make mistakes."
"I think it made us realize that we needed to finish the game strong because we can't let teams back in [matches]," said Swann, who had a match-best nine kills. "[Playing from behind] made us play even harder and smarter."
Mass, who served up 19 assists, added: "Once we got down, we went in the middle [of the court] and tried to get our focus back. We just knew we could do it. We were like, ‘OK, we're stopping them now."
Tretick's kill and ace tied the game and after a Hornets missed serve, Schmeiser returned to the line. Swann and DeSilva each slammed kills and Schmeiser added two service aces, the latter one sealing the win.
"I thought we had a chance to win that third game and send it to a fourth," Merry said. "We hurt ourselves there more toward the end than they beat us, [but] I liked the way we battled back."
Hall said her young team — Northern has just two seniors on its 14-player roster –– is a blessing in disguise.
"I think it's almost helped us because they're fighters," she said. "They don't know what losing is, so I think that's definitely helped even when we get down. They crawl right back and they don't give up. They've bonded. They seem to have the same perspective of the game and … it's working."
And Hall and her squad hopes it keeps on working, for at least one more match.
"It's an exciting time for them," Hall said. "I'm very proud of these girls and I couldn't be happier for them. As long as they go out there [Saturday] and keep fighting, they're going to be successful whether it's win or lose."
Northern vs. River Hill
What: 3A state volleyball final
When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum, College Park
Northern serving is offensive to opponents
Serving can make or break a team's morale and momentum and a few missed ones can even mean the difference between a win or a loss.
Northern head coach Devin Hall can live with a few long or short serves, as long as her players are trying to be aggressive at the service line.
"We've been working on it," she said. "We've been talking about serving aggressive, serving aggressive. We know they're going to make mistakes, but eventually they're going to fall and we want them to fall serving hard.
"We know we can all serve the ball over the net and place it somewhere, but can we serve the ball over hard and place it somewhere so [opponents are] not able to run their offense?"
In the Class 3A state semifinals win against Damascus on Tuesday night, the Patriots misfired on nine serves, including four in Game 1 alone. But instead of reading her team the riot act, Hall paced up and down the sidelines clapping and cheering on her team, whether the serve dropped in for an ace or billowed the net.
"It's been an understanding between the coaches and the players that, ‘Hey, it's OK. You go back and you miss one, we're not going to pull you out of the game. We're not going to get down on you. Just go back and do it again,'" she said.
And it seems to be working. Northern converted 63 of 72 serves (87 percent) against the Hornets and dropped in 15 service aces, 10 more than Damascus.
"They were serving really hard," Damascus head coach Carl Merry said, "and they had a topspin on it."
And this aggressive attitude suits the Patriots just fine. Northern junior Kaitlyn Schmeiser was 16 of 20 with a match-high seven aces. Sammi Swann was 11 of 12 with four aces and Chandler Mass hit on 12 of 14, two of them ending up in aces.
"It's nice to know that even if we do miss two or three serves in a row, you can look over at your coach and see she's just really positive," Schmeiser said. "And you don't feel like, ‘Oh crap.'"
And that could be exactly what Northern's opponents are thinking when they are on the receiving end of one of those aggressive serves.
