RICHMOND — Kellam came into the match as the more established team, with five state titles to its credit, but the Knights fell to upstart Riverside 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in the VHSL Class 5 girls volleyball state championship at VCU’s Siegel Center.
For the team from Leesburg, the match was a watershed moment, marking the Rams’ first volleyball title in the school’s nine-year history as they swept the Knights 25-17, 25-15, 25-17.
Kellam (19-10) came in riding a seven-game winning streak, but Riverside (27-1) proved to be too much.
A quick kill by Riley Erwin gave Kellam a positive charge with its first point, but the Rams countered with kills from Simone Schaefer and Kennedy Payton as they stretched to an early 21-11 lead and held on to win the first set.
The second set followed suit, with Riverside jumping to a 12-5 lead after a block and ace from
Schaefer. Kellam fought back, with Erwin making key kills at the net, libero Sydney Stone scooping several digs to keep the ball in play and Emmie Irving setting up points as the Knights attempted to claw back into the set.
However, several unforced errors and mental mistakes helped Riverside pull away after Kellam closed the lead to 19-13. A kill from 6-2 senior Brianna Holliday was the set’s last point for Riverside.
Needing to win the match’s final three sets was a larger task than Kellam was ready for. The team had showed its resiliency earlier in the season. The Knights won their first two matches, then overcame a 1-7 stretch before going on a nine-game winning streak to push their record to 12-7.
In the last two weeks, Kellam defeated Beach District rival First Colonial twice to win the Region 5A title as well as the state semifinal.
Despite the loss, the Knights and coach Keira Peoples have a bright future.
“We are very young and only losing four seniors (23 players suited up for the final),” Peoples said. “We were forced to move people around early in the season and that hurt us. But we got healthy by October.”
Irving, who led the team with 16 assists, is a sophomore. Stone, who topped the team with 14 digs, is a junior. Vanessa Jarvis, the team leader in blocks for the season, is also an 11th grader.
And 6-1 Riley Erwin, who led the squad with 13 kills and a .579 hitting percentage to go along
with 11 assists, has one more year with the Knights.
