The Langley Saxons are headed back to a familiar venue — one where they already have won three state volleyball championships, including last year.
In this season’s Virginia High School League Class 6 girls state-tournament final at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 23) at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Langley (27-2) will play the Chantilly Chargers (24-2-1) in the 2024 title match.
The teams met just days earlier in the 6D North Region tourney final, with Chantilly winning 3-1.
Both teams advanced to the state final with semifinal victories the night of Nov. 19. Langley downed the host West Springfield Spartans, 3-0, while host Chantilly needed five sets to top Alexandria City, 3-2.
Chantilly will be trying to win its first state championship since 2018, while Langley is guarding against falling short.
“We know they are a good team, so we have to play well to beat them,” Langley junior setter Claire Mo said.
Mo helped lead Langley past West Springfield (30-2) as the Saxons got early leads and mostly maintained a slight advantage in all three sets, winning 25-21, 28-26 and 25-22.
“We work well to stick together through hard times in close, exciting matches like this,” Mo told FFXnow. “We have players who have played in close matches like this before and that helps.”
The loss snapped a 27-match winning streak for West Springfield, which won Patriot District and 6C Region tournaments prior to the state competition.
“I think our players tonight remained steady and calm in this match,” Langley coach Susan Shifflett said. “We knew their No. 10 [Evelyn Jurden] would get her kills, but we were able to put the ball down well with different players when we had the chance.”
Jurden led West Springfield with 22 kills. Also for the Spartans, Milena Kibret had seven kills with a couple of blocks, Lela Swisher had five kills, Ellie Gowe had two kills and three blocks, Anna Dierks had three kills, and Hannah Warschaw and Nina Schweigert had a kill each.
West Springfield was 1-1 in the state tournament, with a 3-0 first-round victory over Glen Allen, with Jurden having 22 kills in that match, as well.
For Langley against West Springfield, Ana Toumazatos had 12 kills, three aces and multiple blocks; Rujuta Singh had eight kills and four aces; Vivian Nitowski had seven kills; Hanna Herbolsheimer had six; Ava Barnett-McKenzie had four kills; Mo had two kills, three aces and led the Saxons in assists; Hailey Park had two aces; and Amber Smith had many assists and digs.
Langley defeated Colgan, 3-1, in the first round, rallying after losing the first set 26-24. The Saxons won the next three, 25-23, 25-21, 26-24.
“We fought back a lot in that match,” Shifflett said.
Chantilly also is 2-0 in the state tourney. The Chargers defeated Patriot, 3-0, in the first round.
In the win over Alexandria City, Mimi Mambu had 19 kills, including one for the winning point in the fifth set. Erin Green added 18 kills, Julia Horan 10, Skyler five and Gabby Nelson three. Chantilly won the first set, 25-17, lost the next two 25-22 and 25-22, then rallied to win the next two, 25-11 and 15-13.
The win was the 15th in a row for Chantilly.
