The odds were decidedly against the Lee-Davis boys volleyball team when they hosted Hanover last Thursday night. The Hawks came into the contest ranked No. 9 in the Central Region with only one Capital District loss. Meanwhile the Confederates had struggled throughout the early volleyball season and came into the match with a disappointing 3-5 district record.

  But when county teams face off against one another, past performances and records go out the window.

  For over two and a half hours the Hawks and C-feds battled it out in a virtual volleyball war. Despite numerous setbacks and miscues on both sides of the net, neither team was willing to cede defeat. In the end, Lee-Davis overcame a stalwart Hanover effort to take the win 25-23, 15-25, 28-26, 27-29, 15-11.

  After a sluggish start, Confederate head coach Sally Smith believes her team is playing their best so far this year. “We’re going right where we need to be this time of the season,” she said. “We started off a little slow and we’re escalating to the right point now.

  “We finally put it all together tonight and had fun while they were playing,” Smith said. “It was a good team win.”

  And having fun seems to be a key to the Confederates’ success. “When we get serious and play tight that’s the worst part,” Smith said. “We shut down. So we have to stay relaxed and they’ve got to be themselves because if they try to be something they’re not, it’s not good ,” she laughed.

  While not wanting to diminish the C-feds win, Hanover head coach Mike Rohr admitted his team simply did not play well throughout. “They deserved to beat us,” he said. “They played better than we did. We weren’t sharp tonight at all. We made a lot of mental errors and didn’t play real clean.”

  Hanover swept Lee-Davis when the two teams met on Sept. 21, so it’s possible the Hawks were caught off guard by how much the C-feds had improved. “They played a lot better than they played against us the first time,” Rohr said.

  The first game saw a nip-and-tuck battle early but with junior Will Dowdy at serve, Lee-Davis reeled off four straight to take a 10-15 lead over the Hawks.

  Trailing 15-10, Hanover came back on a kill from Drew Hazelgrove, then a pair of aces by Todd Moring bracketed a C-fed lane violation to pull the Hawks within one.

  Lee-Davis edged back in front 21-16, highlighted by an ace from Coltin Powell and a kill form Ben Turner but once gain Hanover answered to trim the margin to one.

  The C-feds moved to game point but kills from Hanover’s Cameron Holl and Stephen Alexander threatened to extend the game before Powell took the win for Lee-Davis on a kill, 25-23.

  The teams switched sides for the second game but momentum stayed on the one end of the court. This time it was Hanover taking 20-12 lead then holding off the C-feds for a 25-15 win.

  Game three saw the C-feds race out to a seemingly insurmountable 9-1 lead. But the Hawks did not throw in the towel and slowly chipped away.

  Trailing 11-18, Hanover got back in the game scoring two points for every one given up to pull within three, 21-24.

  A kill by Peck was followed by Alexander scoring on two kills and a tip shot to give the Hawks a 25-24 lead which eventually moved to 26-25.

  Having given up a substantial lead, the situation was not unlike many Lee-Davis has faced throughout the year. “In the past we’ve been getting down on ourselves and we wouldn’t be able to come back, so we’ve been working on that,” Smith said. “We’ve been running drills in practice and I guess they finally paid off. We’ve been working on attitudes and mental thinking most of the time. That’s more than the physical part of the game.”

  Lee-Davis found inspiration when a block from Joe Spengler and Powell forestalled the outcome.

  A Hawks shot into the net put the C-feds at game point and a Hanover miscommunication gave the game to Lee-Davis 28-26.

  “The fact that we came back and made it a game was pretty impressive,” Rohr said. “We still didn’t play all that great.”

  Game four brought a see-saw battle. After Lee-Davis raced out to a 3-0 lead, only two points separated the two teams until the end.

  Knotted at 27, Hanover’s Nick Allen gave the Hawks an advantage on a kill. Then with Hazelgrove at serve, a Lee-Davis return went out of bounds to knot up the night 2-2 on a 29-27 Hanover win.

  The tiebreaker saw Hanover take a 9-6 lead, which appeared it would be 10-6 before officials whistled the Hawks for a violation.

  Lee-Davis took advantage to tie the game at nine on drop shots from Hank Parsley and Turner.

  The teams were tied at 11 when Lee-Davis was assisted by Hawk miscues to score four straight and take the match on a block from Michael Abbott.

  “We’ve had so many hard fought matches in the last weeks and it finally comes through on a big team so it kind of boosts us,” Smith said. “Hopefully we can make it into the districts and go from there.”

  Rohr was pleased with his team’s effort but not their performance. “We showed a lot of fight,” he said. “But our intensity level wasn’t where it needed to be when we started.”

  Repeatedly, the Hawks got away from what they do best. “I think it was mainly because of our passing though,” Rohr said. “We didn’t pass the ball very well.

  “We sort of got into a rut and going to the same spot over and over and over again and they did a good job of recognizing that and taking it away from us,” Rohr said.

  Despite the loss, Hanover still holds onto second place in the district but the road ahead does not get any easier. A home contest against Atlee Tues. is followed by trips to Varina and Highland Springs to close out the regular season.

  “We’re better than we played tonight,” Rohr said. “We just have to come out and show it.”
 
Hanover….................23 25 26 29 11
Lee-Davis…...............25 15 28 27 15
Highlights: Nick Allen (H) 17 kills, 8 aces, 7 blocks; Stephen Alexander (H) 10 kills, 2 aces, 4 blocks; Tyler Peck (H) 8 kills, 4 blocks; Colton Powell (LD) 14 kills, 7 blocks, 4 digs; Ben Turner (LD) 9 kills, 5 blocks, 3 digs; Joe Singler (LD) 7 kills, 5 blocks, dig
Records: Hanover 7-2 Capital, 10-5; Lee-Davis 4-5, 7-8