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Championship point in Saturday’s Anne Arundel County Public Schools volleyball tournament championship was emblematic of the entire match. Players from both sides flung themselves around on the floor, scrambling the ball up and willing it to not hit the ground.
After a back-and-forth rally, Broadneck junior outside hitter Anna Graves found the hole in Arundel’s block, forcing the ball through and to the floor, then roared as her teammates raced to mob her in celebration.
After six straight losses to Arundel, including the previous three county championship matches, Broadneck finally got one up on their longstanding rivals in a pulsating 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22 battle at Annapolis High School.
The match featured high-quality volleyball throughout. Aside from an Arundel run early in the first set, neither team was able to muster a significant lead in any of the four sets. Both teams fought, clawed, and sacrificed simply to find a way to keep the rally going. Eventually, Broadneck’s depth and tenacity pulled them to victory.
“We really put everything onto the court, and it was such a good feeling to hold on to that win,” said Broadneck junior attacker Kennedy Smith, who had 17 kills to pace the Bruins. “I think we’ve learned in past games that if we get on each other, or frustrated or in our heads, that’s not going to benefit anyone on the team. We really try to talk and emphasize the things we want to do better, not the things that are going bad, and it’s worked.”
Graves had 14 kills for the Bruins, while Amanda Protzman added seven kills. The setter tandem of Sydney Lawrence and Barrett Bolter each recorded a double-double, with Lawrence logging 27 assists and 11 digs and Bolter adding 12 assists and 13 digs.
Gaudy stats certainly help, but it was the dogged mentality to chase down every lost cause and ensure every piece contributed to the whole that got the Bruins across the finish line.
“It was really intense at times, but we just really wanted to calm each other down and work together,” Lawrence said. “In the loud environment, knowing who should take the ball in certain scenarios is important.”
Even though the match was nip-and-tuck throughout, there were hints that Broadneck might have their day. In the third set, Lawrence dove to scrape a ball up barely before it hit the floor. Her dig attempt went straight into the knees of Broadneck libero Chloe Richie and immediately over the net. Broadneck won the point.
“There are a lot of things that happen, like when the serves hit the net and then they trickle over and they don’t go your way, and you think it’s not our night,” Broadneck coach Tracey Realbuto said. “But when things like that go your way, you do get a sense of maybe it is our night. But aside from the chaotic and lucky plays, those are only a handful of the 25 points we scored (per set). Our girls played smart, they were aggressive at the right times, and they didn’t play tentative or scared at all.”
Mindset matters, and a shift in mindset helped the Bruins be ready for their moment.
The two teams have contested the last five county championships, with Broadneck winning in 2019 and Arundel the last three. Because the county championship is classed as an exhibition and doesn’t factor into playoff seeding, Realbuto has tried in the past to use that knowledge to relax the team.
Not so this time.
“Volleyball is such a mind game with motivation and momentum, staying composed, all these mental things,” Realbuto said. “Normally going into these games, I’m telling the team the game doesn’t matter, it doesn’t affect records or seeding or any of that, but tonight I told them it matters, because I want them going into the playoffs confident. I wanted that for them, I wanted that confidence, and I feel like we are confident going into the playoffs.
“We’ve believed it. I think we just need to demonstrate it, and I think we did some stuff tonight that made people go wow.”
The wows were only stopped by the end of Broadneck’s demonstration that they were, in fact, the best team in the county. After digs on both sides to extend a rally, Lawrence’s set put the ball on a platter for Graves, who stuffed it through the Arundel block and down, triggering equal parts jubilation and relief.
“I felt just so proud of our team,” Bolter said. “Coach believing in us and us believing in each other was so huge.”
Broadneck has a week of regular season left to tune up for the postseason. It’s a week in which the Bruins will make their final touch-ups for what appears to be an inevitable showdown with Leonardtown for the right to go to the state playoffs.
“We’re just working hard to keep seeing what teams can do to score against us and making sure we don’t look past these last couple of games,” Lawrence said.
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