Volleyball: Centennial knocks off Reservoir, 3-1

Over the past five seasons, Centennial (2008-2010) and Reservoir (2006-2007) have combined to win five Howard County championships.

The Eagles (84-8) and Gators (71-19) have also won a combined 155 matches over that stretch.

But when the two teams met at Reservoir on Thursday night — Centennial won in four sets (25-17, 25-20, 24-26, 25-16) — it was more about moving ahead than looking back at prior accomplishments.

"It's coming. Once we get further in the season it's really going to get there," said Reservoir coach Carole Ferrante, whose team went 20-0 and won a state title in 2007. "It's just learning to work with different people."

Centennial coach Larry Schofield, whose team went 20-0 and won its Maryland record 14th state title in 2008, shares that sentiment.

After graduating a pair of Players of the Year — Liz Brown (2009) and Sam Brostrom (2010) — the Eagles have taken on a decidedly new look.

One important carryover, however, is senior Trisha Mockapetris, a returning all-county selection who recorded 17 kills on Thursday.

"We know she's as strong as you know what, but we're trying to make her a smarter hitter," Schofield said. "I tell all of the hitters, they have five options and that's what we work on every day. If we're not doing serving, serve receive, than we're working on the five different options for hitting. When they start getting smarter about their hitting then things are going to start kicking even a little bit better. But we're going in the right direction."

The Eagles also got strong contributions from Cici White-Torruellas (8 kills) and Kristen Ritchie (7) in the win.

After dropping the first game, Reservoir rallied back to take a 4-0 lead in the second set but ultimately fell. Facing a three-game sweep, the resilient Gators once again battled back. After Reservoir built leads of 4-0 and 19-10, Centennial furiously rallied to tie the game at 22-22 and 23-23. Reservoir captain Rachel Smith pounded down a key kill, her fifth of the set, to give her team game-point, and the Gators eventually won on a pair of Centennial errors.

In its game three victory, Reservoir also got superlative performances from middle hitters Aly Haslam (2 kills, 3 blocks) and Kelsea Belt (3 kills, block). Setter Iulia Tath, playing in just her third varsity match, and libero Amanda Gross also stood out for the Gators.

Centennial is now 2-1 on the season after a win over Wilde Lake on Tuesday and a season-opening loss to Broadneck Sept. 6.

"We played decent enough volleyball (against Broadneck), but our defense wasn't good and they were much more athletic and they got to things that we couldn't get to and that was the difference," Schofield said. "Two of the sets that we lost, we are ahead, and we couldn't maintain it. They were still a little nervous."

Reservoir also lost its season opener to a non-county opponent, Archbishop Spalding.

The Gators won the first two sets convincingly, 25-11 and 25-17, but then lost their grip and lost the match, 3-2.

"We did not make some of the adjustments that needed to be made (against Centennial), and this is what we've been working in practice because we learned this from playing Spalding," Ferrante said.

The Gators did bounce back with a 3-1 win over Howard on Tuesday.

"We played an amazing match against Howard. They played precise, they stuck to the game plan, they made adjustments, so it's coming," Ferrante said.

Other scores from Thursday night:

Mt. Hebron 3, Oakland Mills 0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-20)

River Hill at Long Reach

Catholic 3, Glenelg Country 0

Mount de Sales 3, Chapelgate Christian 0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-16)

Wednesday:

Hammond 3, Meade (25-20, 25-15, 25-11)