The Loch Raven volleyball team improved with each game in yesterday evening's Class 1A state semifinal match against Poolesville of Montgomery County. But in the end, 44 unforced errors were too much to overcome.
Senior setter Stella Cho had 12 assists, and seniors Lauren Roth and Jackie Klien had six kills each, but the Raiders' season ended after a 15-3, 15-7, 15-13 sweep at CCBC-Essex.
"We just couldn't get our passes down," said Cho, who fell short of her 5.53-per-game assist average. "When we got them up, we had an awesome offense, but we just couldn't do it. We played hard, and I'm satisfied with the season."
Poolesville (11-6) advanced to the 1A state championship match for the first time in school history and will face Williamsport of Washington County at CCBC-Catonsville, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The volleyball team is Poolesville's third female athletic program in a week to advance to a state championship game for the first time in school history. The field hockey team shared the state championship with Rising Sun, and the girls soccer team will play Smithsburg for the title at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.
For Loch Raven (14-5), the loss marked the second straight season the Raiders fell in the state semifinals. Loch Raven, which had won 14 of 15 matches coming in after starting the season 1-3, last won a state championship in 1994.
The Falcons took advantage of Loch Raven's mistakes to close out the first game in 12 minutes. At 4-2, Poolesville junior outside hitter Katie Kuhn served 10 straight service points. During that stretch, Loch Raven made seven unforced errors.
Loch Raven seemed to rebound at the start of the second game, going ahead 5-0 on the serve of freshman Lauren Conheim. But with the Raiders leading 7-4, the mistakes returned and sparked an 11-0 Poolesville run to complete the game.
In the third game, Loch Raven erased a 7-3 deficit with an 8-1 run to go ahead 11-8. But Poolesville responded with a 6-0 run to go up 14-11, then held on. Fittingly, the Falcons closed the match on a Loch Raven unforced error.
"What got us here is that we were fundamentally sound, and our passing let us down," said Loch Raven's first-year coach, Cary Lyon, said. "Definitely some of the kids had nerves, and you could see that in their play."