DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711120187

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY GENE MORRIS, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   43 lines

CRESTWOOD CAPTURES FIRST OUTRIGHT TITLE SINCE 1979

Nobody on the Crestwood Middle School girls volleyball team can remember the last time the school won the Chesapeake Middle School League championship. Maybe that's because no one on the team had been born yet.

But this year's Crestwood team will have plenty to remember after defeating Western Branch 10-15, 15-8, 15-8, 15-2 in the CMSL tournament final at Oscar Smith High School.

It was the first outright title for the Falcons since 1979. Last season, Crestwood tied Western Branch and Hickory for the regular-season title and Hickory won the tournament.

The Bruins won the first set behind 10 straight service-points from Meghan Fitzgibbons and a series of Crestwood mental mistakes.

The Falcons overcame five-point deficits to win each of the next two sets behind strong play from Nickesha Neal and Emily Myers.

Sparked by a seven-point run off of Myers' serves, Crestwood scored the final 14 points to win the fourth set and the title.

``When we're down, coach (Doug Connolly) tells us we can come back, to be strong,'' said Neal, who was named the team's Most Valuable Player. ``They were a little afraid when we were blocking them, and when we started hitting a lot better, it helped our confidence.''

For the Bruins, Fitzgibbons had four aces, and Ashley Ainsley added three aces and three kills in the losing effort.

``We made mistakes, we hit the ball into the net, but, we didn't worry about it. That was the difference,'' said Connolly, who led the Falcons to a 9-1 regular-season record.

In the semifinals, Crestwood defeated Oscar Smith 16-14, 15-3.

Rachel Wagener scored seven consecutive points and Neal had five kills for the Falcons. Western Branch reached the final by beating Hickory 15-5, 15-6. Cametrice Butcher had three aces and three kills for the Bruins. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by IAN MARTIN

Lauren Creech holds Western Branch teammate Allison Ainsley's

stuffed bear, but the good-luck charm didn't work for the Bruins

this time.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu