Smithsburg, North Hagerstown win CMC volleyball championships

CMC small-school championship

Smithsburg 3, Williamsport 1

When the host Leopards needed a spark, senior captain Kassidy Meadows stepped up.

Down a set and trailing 17-12 in the second set, Meadows produced a pair of powerful kills — and an even more powerful pair of celebrations — trying to ignite her teammates. It worked, as Smithsburg (13-1) finished the second set with a 13-5 run on the way to a 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 victory over the Wildcats (8-6).

"I'm a team captain, so I thought the energy needed to build and needed to rise," said Meadows, who led the Leopards with 17 kills and tied Chloe Fisher for the team lead with 17 digs. "We weren't playing together, we were kind of playing individually. We all came in (to the timeout), took a breath and took that moment to debrief for a second, then went back on (court) and started playing our game."

Said Smithsburg coach Bri Metzger, "She's one of our two captains, and she really knows how to bring the team together, whether it's a joke, breathing, whatever we need. I told them (the first set) wasn't our set. Williamsport showed up that first set, and we were not present. I told them we had to trust our training, start being aggressive, being hungry for the win … and from then they were battling back and getting the momentum."

Smithsburg has won 12 straight matches with a 36-4 sets record since a loss to North Hagerstown in three close sets on Sept. 11.

"This group is really special," Metzger said. "Even if we're down a couple, or we get a huge (run), they don't get too over the top about it. They can stay at a consistent level where they're really excited about what's going on but know it can switch at any moment. They come together and work together the whole way to the last point."

Williamsport played Smithsburg tough all the way. In Set 3, the Wildcats fell behind 11-7 and got within 16-15, then 23-21 before the Leopards closed it out. In Set 4, Williamsport had early leads of 3-0 and 11-8 before Smithsburg took control with an 8-1 run that Emily Ryder (14 kills, three blocks) highlighted with two huge kills. The Wildcats then got within a point twice, at 17-16 and 22-21, but kills by Kate Marquiss (four kills and eight blocks) and Ryder helped the Leopards finish the job.

"There were times we thought, 'That shouldn't have happened, but that's just a tiny little error,' and after that we were like, 'OK, we can finish this, we can pull through,' and that's what we did," Meadows said.

Fisher had 46 assists, Megan Culver had 10 kills and Calli Haugh added 16 digs for Smithsburg.

Emerson Shank had 35 assists and 13 digs, Skylar Norris had 19 kills and seven digs, Olivia Smith had 11 kills and nine digs, Elizabeth Warren had 19 digs and Kennedi Lawhorne added 10 digs for Williamsport.

CMC large-school championship

North Hagerstown 3, Urbana 1

The defending Maryland Class 3A state champion Hubs (13-1) defeated the defending Class 4A state champion Hawks (9-4) 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19 at Tuscarora and won a Central Maryland Conference championship for the third straight year.

North remained undefeated in best-of-five-set matches against Maryland opponents since a Class 3A state semifinal loss to eventual state champion Reservoir at the end of the 2021 season. The Hubs have defeated Urbana twice this month, each time in four sets, after dropping two sets to the Hawks at the Westminster Tournament at the start of the season.

Emily Gasaway had 37 assists and 14 digs, Sydney Wilt had 20 digs, Caydence Doolan had 18 kills and nine digs, and Baylee Doolan added 12 kills for North.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Smithsburg, North Hagerstown win CMC volleyball championships