Coming into Wednesday night's District V volleyball title match between Arundel and River Hill, neither of the two undefeated teams had been truly pushed this season.
After Wednesday night, both teams can now say that they have been pushed, but only Arundel (15-0) can still call itself undefeated.
The Wildcats used a dizzying array of offensive weapons and an unrelenting defense to get past River Hill (13-1), 27-25, 19-25, 25-9, 25-18.
"They want to win so much," Arundel coach Ashley Yuscavage said. "Not that other teams don't, but they want to win enough that they stay in control, they don't get frantic and they never take their eyes off that goal and I think that's what made the difference."
Coming into the match, Arundel had dropped only one set -- to Broadneck on Sept. 22 —- and its list of three-set conquests includes defending 3A state champion Towson and defending Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland 'A' Conference champion Mount de Sales.
River Hill had blazed through its Howard County schedule, dropping only three sets along the way, and aced the field at the competitive Gator Invitational tournament at Reservoir Oct. 22.
Through the first two sets Wednesday night at neutral-site Mount Hebron, neither team pulled away.
Arundel battled back from a 14-8 deficit in the first set, using an eight-point service run by Lindsay Tapley to reclaim the lead. The Hawks answered to take a 24-22 lead, but a 5-1 run by the Wildcats, including a pair of kills by Allie Orr, clinched the win.
Arundel has two sets of twins — sophomores Allie and Brittany Orr, and seniors Ashlyn and Lindsay Tapley — who have been central to the Wildcats success this year.
Arundel went ahead 6-0 in the second set on a run that included three Lindsay Tapley aces, but the Hawks again fought back and evened the match at one set each.
"Since we won the first game we wanted to relax, we didn't play as aggressively as we usually do," Lindsay Tapley said. "They're a lot more scrappy, put up better blocks and are better hitters than we've seen."
The Hawks couldn't put up much of a fight in the third set, though, as the Tapley twins bombarded River Hill with a combined eight kills, and the Orrs added four more.
"Their serving was top notch and we weren't passing nearly as well as we can pass, and their blocking stopped us in a lot of different ways," River Hill coach Lynn Paynter said. "We were trying hard, unfortunately that third game happened where nothing was going right ... we just got a little rattled and it was kind of difficult to come back ... but it's good to be pushed."
River Hill rebounded to take a 10-3 lead in the fourth set, prompting an Arundel time out, but the Hawks were unable to sustain the pressure. The Wildcats closed with a 14-4 run to win their first District V title.
Junior Ashlee Felton had a break out night for Arundel, tallying nine kills and six point blocks.
"She's been good but this was special, she was a game changer," Yuscavage said. "Anytime we were down it seemed like she suddenly came up with a huge play."
Kristin Lee led River Hill with ten kills, while Amber Wiswell added eight. Cassidy Davis had three kills and three point blocks.
Ashlyn Tapley led the Wildcats with ten kills, and Lindsay Tapley finished with eight kills, five aces and three point blocks. Allie Orr also had nine kills in the match.
Centennial, the 14-time state champion, had defeated Severna Park in each of the first two District V title matches, which pit Howard County and Anne Arundel County's top teams against each other.