Stone Bridge Powers Past Hayfield

Hayfield's impressive season is not over, but the Hawks hit a speed bump in their straight-set loss to Stone Bridge in the Northern Region championship match on Saturday. The Hawks will travel to Virginia Beach to take on Kellam in their VHSL AAA state quarterfinal match on Tuesday.

Hayfield scored the first point of the match, but Stone Bridge fired right back. The teams kept close, but after a Hayfield net fault, the Bulldogs surged ahead. Hayfield's Shannen Cochraham scored four straight spikes, but it wasn't enough.

"We played our best and we played with heart," Cochraham said.

The Hawks' defense became emotional and their plays got sloppy and disorganized. South Bridge scored eight straight points, eroding Hayfield's confidence. The Hawks committed several errors, losing 25-17.

"They played as hard as they could out there and I'm really proud of them." Coach Jeff Berggren said.

In the second match, South Bridge took an early lead by controlling the court. Hayfield struggled to cover the pinpoint spikes and gentle sets over the net. Hayfield retaliated with quite a few spikes of their own, but fell 25-14.

"We started off really well, scoring the first points, but we got ahead of ourselves," Cochraham said. "At that point, it was too late."

Hayfield dominated the first part of the third set, prompting a Stone Bridge timeout. When the two teams returned to the court, the Bulldogs came out hot, scoring the next four points and eventually building a 19-13 lead. The rest of the Hawks' points were from Bulldog errors and they lost 25-19.

"I really want to say we're going to Disneyland right now, but we're just going to Virginia Beach." Berggren said. "We're proud to be runner's up in the northern division. Don't count us out yet, we're going to see how far we can take this season."