Gaithersburg’s Skyler Thiessen settles into new role; McLean is riding high
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Version 0 of 1. Skyler Thiessen is quick, smart and aggressive with sound passing technique. The Gaithersburg sophomore has all the qualities found in great liberos, as she showed last year after Delaney Collins went down with a torn labrum. “She was made for that position,” Coach Michele Staymates said. But with Lexi Serafini graduated, that left a gaping hole at setter. There was no clear option to fill it — at least, not without tearing the lineup apart. Thiessen realized this, and acted accordingly. Over the offseason, she worked on her jump sets, back sets, outside sets, 32s (set to the left-front hitter), 31s (to the middle) and more. “I wanted to prepare myself, just in case,” she said. The Trojans (11-2) are grateful that she did. The 5-foot-4 Thiessen has settled in as a setter, while Collins has returned to libero and Anya Chepurnova has continued to excel as an outside hitter. Thiessen has 292 assists and 31 digs while Chepurnova has 171 kills, making up a one-two punch that’s helped the Trojans emerge as a Maryland 4A state title contender. “The adjustments that happened to the team, they’ve brought us all closer together,” Chepurnova said. “We have more team bonding. Everyone’s working together and making the team better to achieve our goal.” The Trojans have won eight straight matches and dropped only set during that span. Their last loss came on Sept. 24, when they fell in five sets to No. 1 Northwest. Gaithersburg is the only team to take two sets from the unbeaten Jaguars. “I feel that if everyone is focused in the game and is willing and motivated to win — just as much as I want to win and just as much as the other team — then we’ll be in a better spot than we are now, and hopefully we can make it to College Park,” Thiessen said. Early in her four-year varsity career, Autumn Brenner learned that no matter how fast McLean started, the trajectory of the Highlanders’ season would be determined in Virginia Conference 6 play, a gantlet featuring the last three North region champions. So even as McLean reeled off 10 wins in 11 games, the senior setter saved her excitement until the night of Oct. 15. That’s when the Highlanders swept past conference stalwart Fairfax at home, bringing a sense of credence to their recent success. “That win gave us a lot more confidence as a team because usually in the past, we would fight hard but still come up short and lose,” Brenner said. “When we won that game, that really showed us that we could compete with and beat some of those tough teams in our conference.” One week later, the Highlanders (20-5) did it again, knocking off a short-handed, seventh-ranked Madison team on their senior night. As a result, Thursday’s matchup with Langley will decide the conference champion. “Our initial goal was to just try and take a couple sets off Madison, but then when we got out to a great start, we realized again what we were capable of,” said Brenner, who is committed to play at William and Mary. “Sometimes with how well we’ve done, we get too excited and might get a little unfocused. But we’re working through that.” [Kristian Stanford, Langley serve up a sweep of No. 7 Madison] Much of that emotion began bubbling in the preseason, when several players showcased their improvement. A year after emerging as the team’s top outside hitter as just a freshman, Maddie McArthur returned with even more power and precision to her game. The Highlanders also gained another strong sophomore hitter on the outside in Leona Ng, who sat out last year to participate in marching band. “By the end of last season, everybody knew Autumn was going to feed Maddie if we needed a point, so the question was can we build up some other players to help our cause,” third-year Highlanders Coach Bill Musgrove said. “This year, we’ve had our role players really develop and help us along the way.” Included in that group are libero Natalie Luu, whom Musgrove calls “the heart of our defense” and middle blockers Josephine Oakley and Karen Shedlock. All have benefitted from the presence of Brenner, who has used her role as leader and setter to build the confidence of her teammates. “I haven’t had to coach setting much this year,” Musgrove said. “That’s a luxury.” How far the Highlanders have come will be evident Thursday when they close the regular season — one that’s produced a school-record 20 wins — against the same Langley team that eliminated them from last year’s playoffs. “We like playing in a tough conference. It motivates us to play harder,” Brenner said. “Our defense is really good right now and we’ve really been hustling against these tougher teams. We’re just hoping we can keep it up.” Northwest is one win away from completing an undefeated regular season and Severna Park, the defending Maryland 4A champion, is two wins away from accomplishing that same feat . . . Stone Bridge clinched the Virginia Conference 14 regular season title by beating Potomac Falls in four sets on Tuesday. . . . Battlefield clinched its first Virginia Conference 8 tournament title by beating Patriot in five sets on Tuesday. . . .Good Counsel bounced back from a loss to Flint Hill by winning three straight. . . . Langley re-enters the rankings after beating then-No. 7 Madison for its seventh straight win. . . . Sherwood defeated Damascus in four sets on Thursday. 1. Northwest (14-0) LW: 1 2. Severna Park (18-0) LW: 2 3. Stone Bridge (18-2) LW: 3 4. Holy Cross (29-4) LW: 4 5. Loudoun County (15-2) LW: 6 6. Briar Woods (18-3) LW: 8 7. Battlefield (20-3) LW: 9 8. Good Counsel (22-4) LW: 5 9. Potomac Falls (15-5) LW: 10 10. Langley (17-4) LW: NR Dropped out: No. 7 Madison On the bubble: Sherwood (15-3), Gaithersburg (11-2), McLean (20-5), Flint Hill (15-7), Churchill (17-1) Records through Tuesday. |