“My message to them was to earn it,” Nguyen said. “They showed that today. They earned every single point.”
Flint Hill hasn’t lost a set in league play in 12 years. The Hoppers nearly ended that streak — the second and third sets were tight, with Georgetown Day leading the third 20-18.
The surge prompted Nguyen to call a timeout. Flint Hill then scored seven of the next nine points to close out the win.
“We came into the game knowing it was going to be a tough battle,” senior setter Natalie Nguyen said. “We knew we had to trust in each other to fight through those tough sets.”
Each time the Hoppers threatened, Jones halted any momentum.
With the score tied midway through the second set, Jones slammed a kill to put her team on top for good. She stuffed a Georgetown Day spike attempt with a block to put Flint Hill ahead after an early deficit in the third set. Another kill moments later drew a confident smirk from the senior and put the Huskies up three. With it knotted at 14, she crushed a kill, turned to face her teammates and shrugged.
“She’s so big, not just on the court where you see the big hit but also mentally,” Coach Nguyen said. “She’s never out of it, and she always brings the rest of her teammates up to her level. She’s a true leader.”
The threat of Jones freed up fellow seniors Bardin and Mickhaila Murray to score from the outside with equal efficiency.
The championship was a rematch of the past two ISL AA title games. Nguyen wasn’t leading the Huskies for those, but he was well aware of the program’s rich history when he took over the job.
He punctuated his first campaign guiding the Huskies with another championship, the latest in the program’s multiyear run of league supremacy.
“Once we give our hitter a second and third chance, nobody can stop us,” Nguyen said.