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Sports

Volleyball Splits Double-Header Against Walter Johnson

Co-ed squad fights back in final game; boys' team stumbles after five-game winning streak.

After jumping out to leads of 7-2 and 17-14 in the opening game of their matchup with Walter Johnson, Watkins Mill boys' volleyball Coach Bryan Clark soon found himself slamming his clipboard on the floor and calling timeout with an air of disgust.

A string of miscues had put Watkins Mill on the wrong side of the Wildcats' 11-2 run that would in a few points notch the first game in Walter Johnson’s favor.

Such uneven play has typified the boys' season so far: Lopsided losses to Springbrook and Sherwood to start the season were followed by dominant wins over Seneca Valley, Damascus and Clarksburg, and five-set wins over Magruder and Churchill.

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Then, with a division title up for grabs, the Wolverines lost in four games to Quince Orchard on Monday night, and were facing a 5-2 Walter Johnson team on Tuesday that they had given the chance to gain confidence—and more importantly, had allowed their acrobatic and powerful outside hitters to find their rhythm.

Early in the ensuing game, Walter Johnson's Felipe Corte slammed a kill off the chest of Watkins Mill setter Stephen Briner, setting the tone for a lopsided game-two victory for the Wildcats.

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With Walter Johnson on the verge of a sweep, Briner didn’t quit. He laid out to keep the Wolverines alive in a long rally in the third game, sacrificing his body to keep the ball from hitting the floor. Watkins Mill ended the rally with a point—even if it only delayed the inevitable.

Before long, Walter Johnson finished off the 3-0 sweep (25-19, 25-14, 25-18) as the Wolverines showed moments of ability and hustle but, like much of the 2011 season, struggled with consistency.

Monday night’s emotional letdown, combined with an afternoon match right away, contributed to Watkins Mill’s sub-par effort, said Clark, the team’s first-year coach.

"I was satisfied with our effort in the third game," Clark said, "but we definitely" could have done better.

Clark helped with the program for three years before taking over as head coach this season. Watkins Mill returned three starters—Briner, and the captain/brother duo of Alex and George Barsukov—from last year’s team that shared the district title with Clarksburg and Magruder. Alex Barsukov is the team’s only senior; Briner, a junior, is in his first year as a setter; and George Barsukov is a sophomore.

With such an inexperienced group, Clark said he’s pleased with how the team has played. Watkins Mill is 5-4 with regular-season games remaining at Kennedy and Gaithersburg before returning home for a May 2 matchup against Northwest.

Alex and George Barsukov are the Wolverines’ top offensive threats as the team looks to capture their first playoff victory in years.

"Alex is the only senior, so he brings the leadership and experience," Clark said. "He’s never sat on the bench his entire four years. He’s always been in the game. … George brings good play at the net. He’s our best spiker and he’s still only a sophomore, so he’s only going to get better. … The rest of the team sees those two brothers as the go-to guys on the team and they’re good examples for the rest of them."

Alex said he and his brother build off each other's good play. "We’re both pretty good," he said, "and we’ve played tougher every week."

However, playing as brothers with an aggressive mindset among inexperienced teammates can be a double-edge sword.

"Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hinders," Clark said of the brothers’ on-court relationship. "I think they have the same kind of mind. When the ball is in a certain spot, both of them [have] run into each other."

George Barsukov finished with a team-high seven kills on Tuesday. Alex Barsukov and Nicolaye Douglas each had four.

Corte led Walter Johnson with 10 kills. Yuval Dan and Halid Hamadi each had six kills for the Wildcats, with Juan Pablo Zuluaga adding five.

While George and Alex take care of a lot of the Wolverines’ hitting, Briner moved from the back row to the setter position this season to be the fulcrum in the Wolverines’ offense.

"He’s a real hustler on the court," Clark said. "… He’ll sacrifice his body. He’s really a team player. … I realized coming in I’ve got to make him a setter. The way he hustles, the way he always goes after the ball. That’s the first quality you need in a setter."

After the two-game downturn this week, Clark is hoping the Wolverines can spark another upswing when they face Kennedy at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.

"We lost our first two games of the year, then we won five straight, and then we had another two-game losing streak," the coach said. "I told the team, 'Hey, let’s go on another five-game win streak and see what happens.'"

Co-Ed Squad Squeaks Out Win in Fifth Game

Watkins Mill's co-ed volleyball team was all smiles and cheer in the opening stages of their match against Walter Johnson on Tuesday.

The Wolverines had breezed to a 25-11 win in the first game, followed by a 25-15 win in the second. But in the third game, their opponents started to build momentum and were stringing points together over a suddenly reeling Watkins Mill side.

The blowout had turned into a dogfight.

The Wildcats took the third set 25-19 and were on their way to claiming the fourth set 25-21. Anchored by the powerful hitting of Matt Hansen and the seasoned leadership of Andrea Falcon, Watkins Mill regain its bearings in time for the fifth and decisive set.

Other than Falcon, it was the first time that any of the players had been in a tiebreaking set. Coach Jeff Heckert could worry only so much, though: before this season, most of his players had never competed on the volleyball court. So with their 4-4 record so far this season, expectations had long since been met.

Without straying far from their freewheeling demeanor, Watkins Mill cut down on their mistakes, scrounged some timely playmaking from other contributors and pushed through to a 15-12 win in the final game to win their fifth match of the season.

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