DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997 TAG: 9711060664 SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 45 lines
Today's Eastern Region boys volleyball final will seem familiar to those who saw the Beach District final.
First Colonial and Cox won region semifinal matches Wednesday at Tallwood, setting up a rematch for the region title at Tallwood, where the teams played for the district title Saturday. Cox won that match 15-10, 15-10.
Both teams also earned spots in the state playoffs Nov. 14-15 at Atlee High School in Hanover County, north of Richmond.
In the first match, First Colonial was pushed to three games by Deep Creek before winning 15-7, 14-16, 15-6.
Cam Land had 13 kills, David Hills added 12 kills and Brian Kollar had 23 assists and five service aces.
First Colonial dominated the first game, rattling off eight straight points to break open a 4-3 lead.
It appeared the Patriots would do the same in the second game, but the Hornets went on a 10-3 run to rally from a six-point deficit.
``They were timid and a little intimidated early,'' Deep Creek coach Richard Cox said. ``But in the second set they started blocking.''
The Hornets scored four straight points to close to within 5-4 in the third game, but First Colonial ended the match by scoring 10 of the last 12 points.
``During one of the timeouts, I reminded the kids that if they lost, the season was over,'' First Colonial coach Mark Lottinville said. ``They knew how important this was.
``But they (Deep Creek) have good athletes. We have more experience, but they didn't care about that. They played with a lot of heart.''
Said Cox: ``When you don't have a lot of experience, you have to play with a lot of heart. I'm proud of my team for getting this far.''
The Cox Falcons had less trouble advancing to the region finals, rolling past Western Branch 15-2, 16-14.
Beach Player of the Year Josh Zuidema had seven of his game-high 13 kills in a first set that saw the Falcons not allow the Bruins to score consecutive points.
In fact, Cox scored 23 of the match's first 25 points before stumbling late in the second game, allowing Western Branch to pull close.
``We got too confident,'' Falcons coach Bruce Stewart said. ``They made a lot of mistakes, and Western Branch did well to come back. It's easy to think the match is over when you win the first game 15-2.''
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