Volleyball: Chargers Earn Concorde District Title

Article by Nicole Trifone, photos by Celeste Linthicum.

Reclaiming a title they haven't had since 2008, the Chantilly High Chargers won the Concorde District Volleyball Tournament after defeating Oakton High 3-1 in the final match Thursday, hosted at Centreville High.

The Chargers started out with two straight set wins, but with the scores so tight — 25-23 and 25-20 — Coach Charles Ezigibo was not about to let his team rest on their laurels, especially with Oakton's propensity for come-from-behind wins this season.

When Chantilly and Oakton met earlier in the season, the Cougars came back from a first-set loss to win three-straight sets for the program's first win over Chantilly in school history.

"They had beaten us once and they way they did wasn't very comforting," Ezigibo said. "So tonight after we won the first game, I didn't take it lightly. We still had work to do."

Then Oakton proved Ezigibo and his team needed to continue to play hard, as the Cougars won the third set 25-18. The set stayed tight, with the Chargers ahead most of the time, but the Cougars won 10-straight points after trailing 16-12 to put the score at 22-16. The Chargers couldn't recover and the Cougars forced a fourth set.

But the Chargers returned the favor with a dominant performance in the fourth set, which also saw a 10-point run, but this time from the Chargers. The Chargers won the set 25-10, taking the 2011 Concorde District title.

Both the Chargers and the Cougars have qualified for the Northern Region tournament, which begins Monday. Both teams will have home-court advantage.

"I haven't thought as far ahead as regionals," Ezigibo said. "This is a young team. We've been taking one match at a time and I think we'll do the same for regionals."

Chantilly's junior setter Lauren Vicinski, senior middle hitter Teishana Jenkins, and senior Briana Neuberger were named to the Concorde District All-Tournament team. Neuberger earned MVP.