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The Harrisonburg Blue Streaks continued their undefeated season Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023 against the Strasburg Rams. It took only an hour and fourteen minutes for the Blue Streaks to win in straight sets for the second time this season to improve to 3-0.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first set, the Blue Streaks did not let the Rams take another lead in the first set. Junior and second year starting setter, Macy Waid, stepped up to the line to serve for the Blue Streaks. The Rams had no answer for Waid’s serve, as Waid hit seven straight aces in a 9-0 Blue Streaks run.
Junior Teagan Miller followed her teammate to the service line and kicked off her night serving with another ace to put the Blue Streaks up 12-4.
Freshman Nora Von Rotz and junior Autumn Seabrook hit back to back kills to bring the Blue Streaks lead into double digits.
A block by Seabrook brought the lead to 18-6 forcing Rams head coach Suzanne Mathias-Carter to call a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout the Rams started to string together points courtesy of back to back blocks by sophomore Jayden Stinnette to cut the Blue Streak lead to 19-10.
A kill from Miller, an ace from senior Rylee Stroop, followed by a kill from junior Veronica Gutierrez shifted the momentum back to the Blue Streaks as they did not let the Rams cut their lead further and went on to win the first set 25-13.
Apart from two blocks the Rams only scored points in the first set off of Blue Streaks errors. All match long the Blue Streaks served well, particularly in the first set as they racked up a total of 13 aces.
In the second set it was more of the same for the home team. Waid returned to the service line to cheering from the home student section. Gutierrez kicked off the second set with a kill. Freshman Sarah Hairston followed her up with three straight kills to put the Blue Streaks up 4-0.
The setter-hitter connections at the net by Hairston, senior Analise Etchebarne, Seabrook and Gutierrez, as well as sets by Waid proved to be a deciding factor in the Thursday night match.
“The setter-hitter connection went very well, [they] read each other’s timing. That is something our team is developing our skills in,” Gutierrez said.
In the second set alone the Blue Streaks had nine kills.
By the time the Rams scored their second point of the set it was already 14-2 Blue Streaks.
The lead got cut to 19-6, but Hairston put the set out of reach when in the span of five points she recorded two blocks and two kills.
Another Waid ace and a Gutierrez kill brought the Blue Streaks to 24 and a service error by the Rams capped off a dominant Blue Streaks second set with the final score of 25-8.
In the third set the Blue Streaks Varsity Volleyball Head Coach Erin Brubaker made the decision to sit some of her starters in favor of some of the Blue Streak reserves. This led to a closer contested deciding set.
Down 3-6; which was the Rams largest lead of the night, a Seabrook block, a Gutierrez ace and a kill by senior Thaneisha Cedeno brought the set back to even.
With the Blue Streaks down 13-14, Brubaker brought Waid back into the game and there was an instant impact.
Another ace by Waid brought the Blue Streaks within one and with Waid at the service line the Blue Streaks ran up a 12-3 run to close out the set and the match with a final set score of 25-17.
With Thursday night’s loss, the Rams fell to 0-2 to start the season. Stinnette led the way for the Rams with two aces and a block.
A win against the Rams gave the Blue Streaks an undefeated record of 3-0. The best start to the season with Brubaker as the head coach.
Waid finished the game with 11 aces, while Miller finished with four.
Hairston headlined the plethora of Blue Streak kills while Gutierrez added five of her own.
“I really feel like this season is our best season yet and we are really coming together as a team,” Gutierrez said. “Our team environment is really amazing, we are all very happy to play with each other and I’m very excited for us this season.”
The Blue Streaks play next, Aug. 29, at Stuarts Draft high school.
