THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060611
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 50 lines
If experience is indeed a great teacher, then the Indian River and Churchland boys volleyball teams received some first-class schooling Tuesday afternoon.
Beach District teams have been at this game longer than anyone else in these parts, and it showed in the Eastern Region tournament as Cox and First Colonial cruised into today's semifinals.
The Beach District regular-season champion Patriots scored the first 14 points of the match and rolled past Southeastern No. 2 Indian River, 15-2, 15-1.
``They just keep coming at you,'' said Indian River's Brian Petersen, whose Braves were playing their first non-district game. ``I don't think we really knew what to expect.''
Earlier Tuesday, Beach tournament champion Cox overwhelmed Eastern tournament champion Churchland, 15-2, 15-1, in a match that had the Truckers so frustrated they drew two yellow cards and a red card.
The Beach District introduced boys volleyball two years before the sport debuted in the Southeastern District, three years before most Eastern District teams. And Churchland (12-3), perhaps the most surprising team in South Hampton Roads, didn't begin until August. But while athleticism and desire can take a team a long way - all the way, in fact - in Norfolk and Portsmouth, these attributes weren't nearly enough against a seasoned Virginia Beach power.
``They communicate out there, they had more experience hitting and obviously they had more power,'' Churchland's Alex Hudson said. ``We haven't developed to that point yet.''
Adam Dierstein had 10 kills and five digs and Owen Matter had 24 assists to lead Cox (17-2).
``We used these games to work on basic fundamentals,'' Dierstein said. ``They need work on their setting and passing, but I see potential.''
``They remind me of how we looked four years ago,'' Cox coach Bruce Stewart added.
Kevin Jones had seven kills and Cam Land and Andy Jaeckle had four kills each for the Patriots (18-1), who came in still smarting from a Beach District tournament loss against Cox last week which snatched their 17-game winning streak.
``It was upsetting,'' said Jones, whose Patriots handed the Falcons its two regular-season defeats. ``So we're not going to look past anyone, but we're definitely looking forward to playing them again.''
Today's semifinals pit the Falcons against Southeastern top seed Great Bridge (15-4) at 3 p.m., followed by the Patriots versus Eastern No. 1 Granby (13-5) at 4:30 p.m. by CNB