DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060665

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   54 lines

GIRLS FINAL ALL-BEACH AFFAIR SALEM, TALLWOOD TO MEET IN REMATCH OF DISTRICT-TITLE MATCH.

Today's Eastern Region girls volleyball final will be an all-Beach District affair.

Salem and Tallwood, which met in the district finals at Tallwood, won semifinal matches to set up the rematch. Tallwood defeated Salem 15-11, 8-15, 15-3 on Saturday to win the Beach title.

Both teams won convincingly to earn state playoff berths, with Tallwood routing Indian River 15-5, 15-6 and Salem beating Great Bridge 15-7, 15-11.

The Salem-Great Bridge match featured two of the leading candidates for All-Tidewater Player of the Year in the Sun Devils' Jenny Harmon and the Wildcats' Melissa Morgan.

But while both had solid performances (Harmon had seven kills and three aces; Morgan had 13 digs and five kills), Salem held Great Bridge to a .047 hitting average.

Jacquelyn Costa had 25 assists and 11 digs for the Sun Devils.

Salem rallied twice to break open close games, closing out the first game with a 12-1 run after trailing 6-3 and going on a 9-4 run to build what would be an insurmountable lead in the second game.

The Sun Devils played with three starters - Costa, Megan Johnson and Trish Callen - recovering from illness or injuries.

``It was like the walking wounded out there,'' Dixon said. ``I had told some freshmen to be ready to play some major minutes.

``But they decided they could play, and they played well. The other kids picked them up, too.''

In the other match, Kristina Bridges and Amy White both had nine kills for Tallwood, which bounced back from a lackluster match against Churchland Tuesday night to become only the second girls teams in school history to advance to a state tournament.

``The seniors came through for us,'' Tallwood coach Angela Hubner said. ``We had played so mediocre (against Churchland) that we had to get pumped up for this one.''

``We knew we had to put the Churchland game behind us,'' Sarah Neaves added. ``We find a way of playing well under pressure.''

The first game started close, with the Lions holding a 6-5 lead. Tallwood then scored 10 straight points and bolted to a 7-2 lead in the second game.

Jessica McDevitt had four aces, and Neaves added seven kills.

``You see a lot of boys banners here, but nothing from the girls,'' Hubner said. ``But I think we're getting to the point where we've got the competitive edge.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

GARY C. KNAPP

Melissa Ziegenfuss of Great Bridge High School sets herself to

return a serve from Salem High during the Eastern Region Volleyball

Tournament on Wednesday.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu