Falcon Spikers Peaking as Playoffs Near

After falling in a four-set match to Severn Run in what, in hindsight, amounted to a county championship match eliminator, Severna Park’s volleyball team took stock.

Their four-match win streak — straight-set victories over South River, Huntingtown, Annapolis and Chesapeake — was gone. Losses to perennial power Broadneck and the up-and-coming Wolves were their only two blemishes thus far, and those were the only six sets Severna Park had dropped all season to date.

But there was a brutal week ahead. Would that loss be the beginning of a long end to their season, or were they made of sterner stuff?

Indeed, the Falcons showed their mettle in an on-paper challenging stretch where they played Arundel and Crofton on the road in successive matches.

Where previous iterations of this team struggled down the stretch against those types of opponents, this time they found a way to win both.

Behind 16 kills from Hannah McKinstry and 10 from Savannah Smart, along with 21 digs from Frances Santiago-Cruz, the Falcons stunningly brushed Arundel aside in four sets. McKinstry (10 digs) and Jennifer Hong (27 assists, 13 digs) added double-doubles in the win.

They parlayed that momentum into a ferocious five-set win over Crofton, winning 19-17 in the fifth, leaving the Falcons sitting not only on the periphery of the county championship conversation, but in command of the 3A East II region standings heading into the season’s final week.

Severna Park finished the pre-county championship campaign by beating Old Mill and Meade, sandwiched around a tough road test at Bishop McNamara, which they dropped in straight sets.

Though the Falcons fell just short of reaching the county championship match, they have taken a major leap forward by being in the conversation until the final week, as well as an improved region seeding. If they overcome River Hill and Long Reach in late October, they will assure themselves of the top overall seed and home-court advantage for the region tournament.

The region tournament begins on November 4 with the quarterfinal round. Severna Park will host an undetermined opponent or will receive a bye into the semifinals that weekend.