GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Fallston Downs Poolesville in State Semis

Fallston has advanced to the state final in girls volleyball and has a chance at a Class 2A State championship for the first time. The Cougars swept Poolesville 3-0 Thursday behind strong performances from outside hitters Shannon Webb and Rachael Holehouse to push their record to 18-2 and a matchup with Marriotts Ridge on Monday night.

"We just made volleyball history," said Webb, a senior. "Fallston volleyball has never gone this far before and it just feels great to be the first team doing it."

Fallston came out fast and frenetic behind the serving of junior opposite Emily Lefke and freshman libero Anna Holehouse, taking the first set 25–8. The Cougars jumped out to leads of 6–1, 10–2 and 17–5 before taking the opening set.

Poolesville was marred by early mistakes and the players acknowledged that the pressure of the situation had an effect.

"I thought I was pretty prepared, and then I stepped on the court and nerves just hit me," Poolesville senior Lauren Rocco said. "It was a lot harder to turn it around this game. I just couldn't get a hold of my nerves."

The Falcons settled down in the second set, taking their first lead of the night at 6–5, but an 11–1 run by Fallston keyed by Webb's serving and Rachael Holehouse's kills flipped the score to 16–7.

Poolesville put together a run of its own to cut the Cougar lead to 18–14, but a timeout by coach Alison Winaker set Fallston on its way to the 25–17 victory. Five of Fallston's last six points came on kills by Webb or Holehouse, with Holehouse punctuating the set victory with her eighth kill of the set.

The Poolesville players said they had prepared for the Cougar offense, which ran through Holehouse, Webb and junior setter Abby Claborn, but the Falcons could not put a run together.

"We got a pretty detailed scouting report on them," Falcons junior Christine Antonsen said. "They were basically exactly what we thought they would be, but we just didn't have it tonight."

"We knew exactly how they were gonna be," Rocco said. "We knew they were an outside-oriented team and that's exactly what they were. The better team obviously won tonight. We didn't come prepared for the game."

Webb alluded to the fact that after the dominating first set, the Cougars relaxed, which led to closer scores in the last two sets.

"We just maybe laid back a little bit," Webb said. "We were trying to have fun too. Just enjoy the moment while we're here."

"The biggest thing was that they came, they didn't let nerves get a hold of them and they were the aggressor," Antonsen said of the team that ended Poolesville's undefeated run. The Falcons were 17–0 heading into the match and had only dropped four sets all year.

The third set was the closest of the night, but Fallston pulled away with a timely run. After a back-and-forth opening, which saw Fallston lead 11–10, the Cougars opened up a 15–10 lead behind the serving of senior middle blocker Marissa Curran.

The closest it got the rest of the way was 16–13, but Webb killed a rally, literally, before her service opened up a 19–14 lead. Poolesville fought to the end, turning a 24–15 deficit to 24–18 by repeatedly thwarting Webb and Holehouse's attempts at a game-winning spike, but when four touches on the Poolesville side of the net clinched it for the Cougars, Winaker watched her players celebrate.

Winaker said she wants her players to "enjoy everything. Appreciate every swing that you get and play every point like it's the last."

Webb can see everything coming down to the end. 

"We have one more practice to fix up the little things that we saw tonight," she said. "We're just gonna work on that, have some fun and just be ready to go on Monday."

Winaker said she has had a feeling about this team from the start and knew that Webb, Holehouse and the rest of the squad could accomplish something special.

"I've known from August 14, the first day of tryouts," Winaker said. "It's in the back of your mind and you don't want to say states are on your mind when it's three months away. It's like an unspoken dream. I know this group has the ability to do something that's never been done before at Fallston High School."

"We're going to make history," Webb said.

Fallston will face Marriotts Ridge on Monday at 6 p.m. at Ritchie Colesium on the University of Maryland campus.