The No. 2 ranked Atlee Raiders boys volleyball team successfully navigated their first big test of the season, downing both No. 10 Varina and No. 9 Hanover to improve to 9-1 on the season. But more importantly they moved to 3-0 in Capital District play.

  On Tuesday, Atlee faced off against Varina, one of the Central Region’s biggest surprises this season and found they had their hands full.

  “Varina is much improved from last year and their coach is doing a fantastic job over there with those guys,” said Atlee coach Nick Robinson. “They played really well against us.”

  The Raiders took the first set 25-19 but fell to the Blue Devils 29-27 in the second. The third set brought another intense game with the Raiders coming out on top 25-21. Atlee then closed out the match with a 25-14 victory in game four.

  Robert Chilcoat led Atlee with 20 kills and Kody Tingler 17 while Andrew Standford recorded six digs and six aces.

  In their home matchup against county rival Hanover, Atlee stormed out of the gate taking a 10-4 early lead. However, the Hawks showed signs of life, trimming the margin to 12-7 on a kill from Cameron Holl. But the Raiders responded by reeling off seven straight points under the service of Stanford to take a 19-7 lead then close out the game 25-12.

  “We knew coming in here, against us they were going to come out fired up in the first game and we were just going to have to take their best shot and see what happens in the first game,” said Hanover head coach Mike Rohr. “We knew they were going to come out firing and we knew if we could just weather the storm, the second game was the game we had to go after and get.”

  True to Rohr’s word, the second game appeared to be Hanover’s for the taking. Trailing 2-4, the Hawks took a 5-4 lead thanks in part to an Atlee service error and lane violation.

  “Game two we came out a little bit lazy I think because of the outcome of game one,” Robinson said. “We played a little bit slower. Made some mental errors, service errors killed us in the second game. We didn’t pass as well either.”

  Atlee retook the lead 9-6 but from that point on neither team could create more than a two point cushion. 

  Hanover took a 22-19 lead on kills from Tyler Peck but Atlee responded with a drop shot from Stanford and block from Tingler and Kyle Rodgers to pull within one, 22-21, forcing a Hawk timeout.

  Coming out of the break, an Atlee service error gave Hanover a 23-21 edge.

  But with their backs against the wall, the Raiders responded once again. A kill from Tingler was followed by a block from Billy Dishman, and kills from Stanford and Tingler to take game two 25-23.

  The close loss left Rohr with a feeling of what-if. “We almost got it,” he said. “We get that, it’s an interesting night if we get that second one.”

  Robinson said that Atlee got away from their game plan of getting the ball to Dishman at setter, where he is averaging 25 assists per match this season. “I think a lot of that has been because our passing has been decent up to this point of the year,” Robinson said. “We have a lot of offense. We have Kyle Rodgers, Kody Tingler and Robert Chilcoat and Andrew Stanford all playing really consistent volleyball offensively and that’s given us a lot of opportunities. And when we don’t let the ball hit the floor we’re going to continue to get good offensive opportunities because we’re getting a lot of balls up that we wouldn’t be able to get up.

  “The first game we were able to put the ball in our setter’s hands and run our offense,” he said. “In the second game, that really wasn’t the case. We were throwing a lot of balls to our outsides where we really didn’t want to. Defense fell apart a little bit. We just weren’t down covering like we were supposed to be and I think that hurt.”

  In game three Atlee went back to their bread and butter and Dishman finished the night with 37 assists.

  The Raiders raced out to an 8-4 lead which blossomed to 19-9 before the Hawks scored four straight on Atlee miscues. But the Raiders went on to close out the match with a 25-14 win in game three.

  Though upset with the loss, Rohr feels that Hanover is back on track after a few lean years. “Absolutely, I think definitely,” he said. “We were a little young last year. We didn’t have a lot of experience on the court but I think that’s paid off this year so far. We’ve played some good competition so far. Games that we have lost we made some mental mistakes.”

  Rohr also feels that confidence is the key for Hanover as the season continues. “I think we showed a little bit of it tonight,” he said. “It’s just a matter of, we’ve got to be able to, when the other team makes a big play, you’re not going to be able to stop everybody all of the time. You’ve got to be able to come back and answer that next play. That second game we did it most of game, which is why we were in it. The third game we didn’t do it enough. “

  Though undefeated in district play, the road gets no easier for Atlee as they now have to travel to Hanover and Lee-Davis. “I think pretty much from this point forward everybody is going to play well against us,” Robinson said. “They know we’ve got a target on our back. We know that we’ve got a target on our back and people are going to want to beat us.”

Hanover…...........................12 23 14
Atlee ...................................25 25 25
Highlights: Stephen Alexander (H) 7 kills, 7 blocks; Nick Allen (H) 5 kills, 2 blocks, ace; Tyler Teele (H) 4 kills, 2 blocks; Billy Dishman (A) 37 assists; Kody Tingler (A) 13 kills, 2 blocks; Andrew Stanford (A) 9 kills, 3 aces
Records: Hanover 3-1 Capital, 4-4; Atlee 3-0, 9-1

Lee-Davis…....................... 25 16 20
Hanover….......................... 27 25 25
Highlights: Ben Turner (L-D) 5 digs; Drew Hazelgrove (H) 12 kills, 2 aces, 6 digs; Tyler Peck (H) 10 kills, 4 blocks, 4 digs; Stephen Alexander (H) 7 kills, 3 blocks, 2 digs, 2 aces
Records: Lee-Davis 0-3 Capital, 3-7; Hanover 3-0, 4-3

Atlee .............................25 27 25 25
Varina ...........................19 29 21 14
Highlights: Kody Tingler (A) 17 kills; Robert Chilcot (A) 20 kills; Andrew Stanford (A) 6 digs, 6 aces; Cory Matheny (V) 6 kills, 5 blocks; Kory Caldwell (V) 10 digs, 2 kills; Paul Johnson (V) 9 digs, 9 assists, 6 kills
Records: Atlee 2-0 Capital, 8-1; Varina 2-1, 7-2