Stone Bridge enters the 2010 volleyball season with an impressive roster worthy of being considered among the best in the state. In their season opener Tuesday night, the Bulldogs showed off their skill set in a 25-11, 25-10 and 25-22 sweep of defending AAA state champion Loudoun Valley in Purcellville.

Ranked No. 1 in the latest LoCo Elite 5—a top five volleyball poll for Loudoun’s 12 public schools voted on by the Loudoun Times-Mirror and VivaLoudoun.com—Stone Bridge fully controlled play in the first two sets Tuesday. After the Vikings showed life in the third set and built a 19-15 lead, the Bulldogs (1-0) closed the set on a 10-3 run to complete the sweep.

“We wanted to come out and establish early and the girls did a great job of that,” Stone Bridge coach Jill Raschiatore said.

Senior setter Amanda Miller, playing in her first match since breaking her leg in last year’s playoffs, set up the Bulldog attack with 27 assists. Miller added 17 service points, five aces and nine digs. Senior Christine Beckham slammed 12 kills and scooped seven digs, while junior Alex Heyn, who recently verbally committed to play volleyball at Ohio State, added nine kills and two blocks.

Senior Amy Christensen, a University of Connecticut commit, led Stone Bridge with 13 digs and matched Miller with a team-best 17 service points, including three aces. Sophomore Haley McClure was impressive in her time on the court, netting three kills and four blocks.

Raschiatore raved about the play of Miller after the match and said her standout setter is fully healed. The veteran coach was pleased with her team’s overall performance but knows the season is just beginning. 

“A sign of a good team is one that is consistent,” Raschiatore said. “We haven’t had a chance to show whether or not we are consistent. It’s too early to tell if we are there yet. I think we have potential to be there. But good teams peak at the end.”

Valley, tied for third with Cedar Run District foe Heritage in the LoCo Elite 5, expected some growing pains early this season after graduating six players—including five now playing college volleyball—off last year’s state title squad.

“As I tell the girls, it’s not necessarily where we are right now that we want to be concerned about,” Viking coach Laird Johnson said. “We don’t want to accept what happened tonight, but we are certainly going to build upon it. I think this is the type of group that is going to improve week-to-week and hopefully day-to-day. If I’m reading them right, I think that’s where we are headed.”

Sophomore Katelyn Hamilton dished out 11 assists for Valley (1-1). Seniors Taylor Maddox and Abby McIntyre combined for 11 kills and 17 digs.

All photos by Carl Lukat, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)