By Will Van Gelder ‘16

The Warriors advanced to the state Semi-Finals before being defeated 3-0 by Severna Park on November 12. The team had gone undefeated during the regular season and ended the season with an astonishing 23-1 record, with their only loss coming against Severna, 25-17, 25-18, 25-18.

Severna’s attack was led by 6-foot-4 Mary Smith, who recorded 14 kills and 8 blocks. Severna managed to limit Sherwood’s duo of sophomore Kaiya Heyliger-Powell and senior Kerra Tirado to combine for only 19 kills. The game, which was played at the University of Maryland, was a showcase of some of the state’s most promising prospects in volleyball.

“You can’t measure an entire season by a single game. If you look at where we started and how far we have come, that progress is the real measuring stick,” said Coach Ben Sanger. “It is unfortunate we lost, but Severna Park was the better team on Wednesday night. I look at this season as a success, as these 17 girls continued to push each other every day. I’m going to miss this group a lot.”

In addition to Sanger, assistant coaches Brian McCarty and Joe Moyers also heavily contributed to the team’s success. The captains, Tirado, senior Dalton Sanchez and junior Ariella Rodriguez, played a significant role in motivating players and maintaining the team’s focus in practices and matches. As a result, the Warriors dominated nearly every opponent they faced and won seventeen of their twenty regular season matches in straight sets.

After a relatively easy first-round match against Paint Branch, the Warriors exacted revenge against Howard, who beat Sherwood in the state semi-finals last year; in this year’s duel, Sherwood won 25-19, 25-15, 25-10. The girls then defeated the reigning state champions, Dulaney from Baltimore County. Sanger noted that the coaches scouted Dulaney to find weaknesses to exploit. The Warriors were helped by senior Julia Gajewski-Nemes’ ability to make smart plays and hit around the blocks, as well as strong serving from seniors Alison Sarver and Kristen Stitzlein. The Warriors consistently kept Dulaney off balance in the 25-16, 25-20, 25-20 victory.

“We were faced with a lot of difficult things this season and we came together as a team to overcome the hardships and make it to the state semi-finals. I am so proud of my team and couldn’t have asked for anyone better to spend my last season of girls’ volleyball with,” said senior defensive specialist Sarver.