Winning 21 matches and reaching a state championship match usually would be considered a successful season, and it was for the Flint Hill Huskies.
But compared to the girls volleyball team’s recent rich history, the accomplishments fell slightly short of past glories.
For the first time in years, the high-school season ended for Flint Hill without a conference or state championship, or even winning the school’s own invitational tournament.
A streak of winning six straight Division I private-school state titles ended when the Huskies lost in five sets to the No. 1 seed Bishop O’Connell Knights in the state tournament final at The Steward School in Richmond. Prior to that, Flint Hill was eliminated by champion Bullis in the semifinals of the Independent School League‘s AA Division tournament, ending another long streak of consecutive titles.
Overall, Flint Hill has won 13 state titles, but the slight dip in 2024 performance was not unexpected.
“We graduated four starters from last season, so we lost a lot. But our players still played their hearts out and had another good season,” Flint Hill coach Thai Nguyen said. “For this team to get to the state final was big. We exceeded our expectations.”
In the state final, Flint Hill won the first and third sets and lost the deciding fifth 15-6.
“It was a tough battle — we kind of ran out of gas in that last set and O’Connell played well. They were very good,” Nguyen said.
Flint Hill and O’Connell played three times during the season, with the Knights winning two of the matches. All were close.
The third-seeded Huskies were 2-1 in the state tournament, defeating Episcopal, 3-0, in the first round, then edging the No. 2 seed Potomac School Panthers (14-4) in the semifinals, winning 15-13 in the fifth set.
The Huskies trailed 13-10 in the fifth set, then rallied to win behind the serving of freshman Delaney Malloy. Flint Hill was led in the match with 15 kills and five blocks each by Isabelle Bardin and Hunter Ross and nine from Audrey Sealock. Bardin also had 17 assists and 15 digs. Kadi Pynchon had 38 digs, Caroline Semko had 13 and Ava Zender had 17 assists.
Against Episcopal, Bardin had 20 kills, Sealock 18 and Ross 11. Zender had 15 assists.
In the ISL tournament, Flint Hill also was the third seed. It defeated Georgetown Visitation, 3-0, in the first round, then lost to champion Bullis, 3-0, in the semifinals.
“Bullis played extremely well in that match,” Nguyen said.
Bardin and Pynchon are two seniors who will play Division I college field hockey. Bardin will play at Purdue University and Pynchon at Lafayette College.
By reaching the state semifinals, second-seed Potomac School enjoyed its best season in the program’s short history. The Panthers defeated No. 7 seed Collegiate, 3-0, in the first round.
In the semifinal loss to Flint Hill, Skylar Giuliani had 17 kills for the Panthers and Zora Burrell and Adalena Rodgers had 10 each. Lily Gurney had 19 digs, Sophia Grimm 14 digs and 15 assists, Alexis Vaughan 16 digs and Rodgers 12 digs and 17 assists.
In the AA Division tournament of the ISL, Potomac School was the fourth seed and finished 1-1, losing to top seed Georgetown Day, 3-2, in the semifinals.
