CUMBERLAND — After No. 3 Fort Hill and No. 4 Mountain Ridge played to five sets in their first meeting, the two teams were destined for another tight match.
That’s exactly what fans packed at Fort Hill High School received on Monday.
Fort Hill outlasted its rival in another five-set match to sweep the season series during the Sentinels’ Senior Night.
The scores were 24-26, 25-20, 25-9, 22-25 and 18-16.
The Miners led by three at one point during the final set, but the Sentinels fought their way back to force extras.
With the set tied at 16-16, the Sentinels earned the next two points to take the match, ending on an Addison Furstenberg kill that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
“I just kept reminding them that we can do it,” Fort Hill coach Jordan Fradiska said. “There’s no reason to look back. We can’t erase it, just move forward and that’s what they did.
“The intensity was up. The atmosphere was great. Hats off to Mountain Ridge like always, they played a good, scrappy game.”
The first set was a back-and-forth affair. After it was tied at 14-14, the Miners went on a 5-1 run for a 19-15 lead, forcing Fradiska to call a timeout.
The Sentinels (7-3) then climbed their way back into the set and eventually tied it at 23-23, which caused Mountain Ridge Valery Broadwater to use a timeout.
With the set knotted at 24-24, the two teams put together a long rally that ended with Kealana Pua’auli spiking it to put the Miners (7-5) up one. Pua’auli then recorded another kill to give her team the opening set.
Fort Hill scored the first two points of the second set. But after the Miners secured the next two points, the Sentinels grabbed the lead again and kept it for the rest of the set.
The Sentinels opened their advantage to 12-6 before the Miners closed the deficit to 15-12.
The Miners couldn’t get any closer as the Sentinels closed the set by scoring 10 of the next 18 points.
Addison Noechel’s tip at the net gave Fort Hill a 25-20 win and tied the match entering the third set.
The Sentinels continued to ride that momentum in a dominant third set. Fort Hill went out to a 9-1 lead and never lost control. The Sentinels ended the set on a 16-8 run, and a kill by Corrine Spriggs sent her team up 2-1 entering the fourth set.
“In volleyball, you can have a lopsided set like that and it doesn’t mean anything,” Fradiska said. “You do get the momentum, but it doesn’t really show what’s gonna happen in the next set.
“But I told my girls ‘If we don’t win that fourth set, just be ready for set five and it could go either way.’ We were there and we ended up pulling it out.”
Mountain Ridge responded by jumping out to a 5-1 lead to begin the fourth set. But the Sentinels made a run of their own, tying it at 8-8.
The two teams traded points until the Sentinels led 22-21. The Miners scored four consecutive points thanks to three kills from Lainey Clark and a block from CJ Gray to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
Fort Hill opened the final set with a 3-0 lead due to a pair of Mountain Ridge hitting errors and a kill from Adalyn Rice, forcing Broadwater to use a timeout.
The Miners responded with three consecutive points to tie it up. After the teams traded the next few points, Mountain Ridge secured four points in a row to take a 9-6 lead.
The Sentinels then took five of the next six points for an 11-10 advantage.
The rest of the match was back-and-forth. The Sentinels had match point at 14-12, but the Miners scored back-to-back points to send it into extras.
After being faced with two more match points, Mountain Ridge answered back to prolong the match until it was tied at 16-16. A Miners hitting error and the kill by Furstenberg ended it.
“It’s a good confidence builder for sure,” Fradiska said. “That doesn’t mean if we play them again in the playoffs that we’re gonna win. But it does help the confidence for sure.”
Rice led the Sentinels with 22 kills while Furstenberg and Caniyah Plummer also recorded double-digit kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Furstenberg topped Fort Hill with five blocks while Rice chipped in two.
Caiti Willison led the defensive effort with 22 digs while Hailey Metz and Tatum Bishop each finished with 12. Metz scored 11 service points while Willison scored 10. Bishop also contributed eight service points and six kills.
Setter Summer Welsh recorded 35 assists and 10 service points.
Pua’auli, Clark and Gray all finished with double-doubles for the Miners. Pua’auli collected 33 kills, 24 digs, three assists and an ace.
Clark recorded 14 kills, 14 digs, 11 service points and an ace. Gray compiled 37 assists, 26 digs, 14 service points and two aces.
Kylie Wiltison finished with 28 digs, six service points and two assists.
Before the match started, Fort Hill honored its seven seniors: Willison, Bishop, Noechel, Spriggs, Ava McFarland, Leighton Thomas and Fynnlea O’Rourke.
“They’ve been here for a long time,” Fradiska said. “They’re all friends. We’re a close group.
“I’m proud of all of them and we gotta move on.”
Mountain Ridge will host No. 1 Northern Garrett on Thursday. Fort Hill has a week off before hitting the road to Southern Garrett on Monday.