Junior McKenna Brown thought the Howard Lions underachieved as a volleyball team last season because they failed to bring home any hardware. She was a major reason why that won’t be a problem this season.
Brown contributed 13 kills in a four-set thriller as visiting Howard defeated Glenelg, 25-23, 25-13, 27-29, 25-22, to win the first official Howard County volleyball title Monday night.
Up until this season, the title was just awarded to the team with the best record. This year, with the county expanding to 13 teams thanks to addition of Guilford Park, the county decided to have an actual championship game. The county was split into two divisions with the winners, Howard and Glenelg, facing off to determine the county champion.
Jackie Klugh also contributed 11 kills and Imagine Peltier handed 26 assists to lead the Lions (15-0). Glenelg (12-3) was led by Isard Bernades’ 10 kills.
The hotly-contested match featured two teams who lived up to their rankings, in the top-ranked Lions and the third-ranked Gladiators, especially in the third set.
“It was tough in that third set, back and forth,” Lions coach Grant Scott said. “Having an integral player go down in that fourth set and almost giving it away, it feels good to actually finish that game and it feels good to win this.”
Howard came out as the more aggressive team in the first set. The Lions built up an early 8-3 lead before Glenelg, behind a few optimistic kills by Bernades tied the set up at 11. Howard used serving runs by Riley Poholsky, Miranda Ball and Jojo Vassor to take a 22-17 lead. The Gladiators managed to cut the lead to two at 24-22, but a Mariska Ordonez kill ended the set in favor of the Lions, 25-22.
The second set was Howard’s most dominant. The Lions got on an eight-point serving run by Poholsky to change a 7-7 tie to a 15-7 lead before cruising to a 25-13 victory. Howard’s opportunistic offense managed to find the holes in Glenelg’s aggressive defense in the set.
The Gladiators came alive in the third set. Glenelg held a two- or three-point lead through most of the set before Howard mounted a late rally, tying the set on a Brown kill at 22-22. The teams were tied at 27 each before a Sky Simms kill and an out-of-bounds kill attempt by Howard gave the Gladiators the set, 29-27.
The fourth set looked a bit like the second one in the beginning. Howard rushed out to a 17-8 lead, but Lions starter Dylann Loggins sprained her ankle and had to be helped off the court. The development seemed to rattle the Lions a little.
Glenelg wasted little time pouncing on the opportunity. The Gladiators used the serving of Sierra O’Connor and Jessica Li to go on 12-2 run and eventually take a 20-19 lead. From that point on, Howard got two kills from Ordonez, and one each by Brown and Kaleigh Williams to take a 23-20 lead. Glenelg cut the lead to 23-22, but Howard finished the match with kills by Williams and Ordonez to win the set 25-22.
“This has been a team goal for us all season,” Brown said. “Our last couple of matches haven’t been as competitive as maybe they could have been, but this is a good test for us before the playoffs. Our blocking was really good for us. I think it set the momentum for us and really carried us through.”
For first-year Glenelg coach Nick Sharp, the game showed him what the Gladiators need to focus on heading into the post season.
“It was a tough battle,” Sharp said. “That’s a team that you can’t make mistakes against because they don’t have many weaknesses. I thought it could have gone either way. There’s a lot of volleyball still to go, so we’ll be ready.”
