View Boys Volleyball Photo Gallery
In the Capital District Boys’ Volleyball Championship, the young Atlee Raiders faced a bigger and more experienced Springers team in a fiercely competitive five-game match that came down to the wire before Highland Springs pulled out

With Springers’ team captain, Addan Jones serving, Highland Springs jumped out to a quick lead in game one.  Then Atlee’s Captain Kody Tingler helped the Raiders surge ahead with a string of four serves. 

The Raiders held on to their lead for a while, but finally lost momentum and were essentially shut down when District Player of the Year, Springers’ Quentin

A Robert Chilcoat kill from a Jordan Stringfellow set earned the Raiders the ball back, but the final point was lost on an Atlee missed kill shot.

Game two was demonstrative of the Raider’s never-say-die attitude as they surged from behind to take the set 27-25.  Raiders’ middle hitter, Kyle Rodgers felt his team put out a maximum effort. “We played pretty well,” he said. “Obviously the games we won, we pulled out.  We hit and blocked as well as we could.”

Many of Atlee’s points for the evening came from set-kill combinations coming from setter Justin Crane to Rogers.  “We practice the one-ball most of the time,” Rogers said. “The one was working, so we kept with it.”

Game three tipped the momentum back in Highland Springs’ favor after going neck and neck up to 19. 

But Moore continued to make kills from mid-court to rack up the final points with Springers’ middle hitter, Jessie Brown capping off the last four serves.

According to Jones, the Springers expected a battle from Atlee and came into the match prepared. “This is the third time we played Atlee this season,” he said. “We’ve been really playing hard.  We worked hard; we’ve got a great coach (Richard Starr).  He brought us back.  We came back and took them all the way.  I told the team to keep up their intensity.  That’s the main thing; they had to keep it up, and not get down because of bad calls or whatever the case.”

An undaunted Atlee team battled back in game four coming from behind midway through to maintain a lead that ended a pair of serves from Jordan Stringfellow.

However, when the match moved into the tie-break game the Springers’ jumped out to an early five-point lead with Moore making cross-court kills from mid-court. 

Atlee head coach, Michelle Black, broke up their momentum with some well-placed time-outs, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Springers from holding on to their lead. 

With Adam Crigger serving up the last two points, Highland Springs took the championship.

According to Rogers, the Raiders dug too deep of a hole to climb out of. “At the end of the game, the last game; we got behind with their five-point lead and couldn’t come back,” he said. “But, Highland Springs is a great team…a lot of seniors.”

Even though they pushed the more experienced Springers into the deciding game, Crane believes the Raiders could have played better.  “It was rough,” he said. “Our head wasn’t in it the whole time.

“The Springers have been here before, and some of us haven’t been in a big match like this one,” Crane said. “They (Highland Springs) were in it last year and the year before.” 

Moore, attributed the championship win to smart play. “I think we made a lot of smart choices,” he said. “We missed a couple of serves, but we came back with a lot of smart plays.  Everybody helped pull it together.  Coach told us, ‘No more missed serves.’”

Coach Black found both positives and negatives throughout the match. “We were up and down,” she said. “We just weren’t as consistent as I would have liked.  We struggled with passing.  It was a mental game; like I’ve always said.  Volleyball is a mental game.  We just didn’t have that mentality.  Communication lacked; we had some confidence issues; and we have a really young team.  We have one senior, and we have a long ways to go.  And our confidence, it keeps getting better and better each game or in each match; but it’s not there yet.  Highland Springs did a great job.  They have a great program.  They deserve to win.  They were the better team out there.”

With the loss behind him, Rogers was disappointed but optimistic. “At this point, no one likes to lose a championship; but there is always next year,” he said. “We’ve still got Thomas Dale next Monday.  Still looking forward to next year.  We’ve got everybody returning as starters, so look out.”
 
Atlee————————— 17 27 21 27 10
Highland Springs—- 25 25 25 25 15
Records: Atlee 18-3; Highland Springs 20-2