Overcoming a huge hurdle towards reaching their season goals, the volleyball team had a decisive 3-0 win against Loudoun County High School on October 11th securing for them second in the Dulles Region as they host Tuscarora tonight at 6pm in the gym and with a win they will face off against the winner of Valley/Lightridge on Wednesday night at home as well . 

The team currently holds a winning record of 14-6 this season which places them behind only Rock Ridge who has won 18 and lost 3. “We’re really, really, really gritty, and we have success because we put in the work and practice and everybody has great culture on the team this year,” Senior Haley Gill said.

According to the Girl’s Varsity coach, Phuong Tat, the team started out with only a single digit lead in the game against Loudoun County, but as the game progressed, “momentum really kind of built” in the third set. “All seniors on our squad really stepped up and it was a special night for them,” Tat said.

According to Gill, the team picked up speed as the game went on by acing serves and “getting [Loudoun] out of system as much as possible.”“We stuck to our game plan throughout it, and eventually I think they just kind of crumbled,” Gill said.

According to Tat, Loudoun County has been the “gold standard” for volleyball in the county because they’ve won the state title 10 times. “We always play hard because we know that they’ll always bring their A game,” Tat said.

Currently, the team’s goal for the season is to go to States. “We haven’t gotten to states [but] we made it pretty far last year, [and] I think we have the ability to go even farther [this year] and go to the state tournament,” Junior McKenna Maguire said.

According to Tat, a contributing factor to the team’s success this season is each player’s dedication to the sport. Each member of the team has participated in club volleyball which has given each position on the team “depth” and made the team “fully loaded” in Tat’s words. The skills of “every position; setter, Libero, outside hitter, middle hitter, right side hitter” has made Dominion a “very tough team to compete,” Tat said.

“Honestly, I think the harder games are more fun for us because we’re more motivated to [win]” Maguire said.