By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

Cosby boys’ volleyball head coach Frank Jenkins will admit that pulling together mentally in a tough situation is not his team’s strong suit. When the going gets tough, the team members try to rely on themselves rather than each other.

Wednesday night’s VHSL Group AAA semifinal against undefeated Eastern Region Champion Great Bridge could have been another mental disaster for the Titans. Tied at two games each after leading 2-0, the Titans could have shrunk further inside themselves and let the final game slip through their grasps. But Cosby senior setter Brent Zackon had other ideas.

From the end of the fourth game on, he took the reigns for the Titans and hauled the team back into its starting form. Zackon yelled at players to fire them up. He sprinted to the head referee to argue calls then visibly turned to his teammates to accept the call and move on. He flattened his palms toward the floor, pumping them up and down to signal the team to calm down when he thought they needed it. He followed the emotional part up with some big assists and helped the Titans to a 3-2 (25-17, 25-20, 21-25, 21-25, 16-14) win.

“Without Brent and also Daniel [Helderman], those guys have distributed the ball for us all year long, and they have gotten the ball to guys when we’ve needed those guys to have the ball. Daniel’s kind of a quiet player. Brent’s a little more fiery. He’s one of the guys that hates to lose more than anything,” Jenkins said. “One of our other games this year, he flew over the top of the bench to save a ball, and we were able to win the point, and that’s just the kind of kid he is. He wants to win so bad, he’ll do anything. He really gets so jacked up and tries to keep the energy up.”

Cosby built an 11-7 lead midway through the tie-breaking game, but a kill and a block from Great Bridge middle hitter Danny Childs helped the Wildcats score three points in a row and forced a Cosby timeout.

The teams matched point-for-point until Great Bridge pulled ahead 14-13 on a four-hit penalty against Cosby. With just one point separating them from the end of their season, the Titans again pulled out all the stops.

A kill from Zackon tied the game at 14 and a serve from senior outside hitter Stephen Cunningham was returned wide to put Cosby ahead and force a Great Bridge timeout. Cunningham’s second serve was returned, but Zackon picked up a kill to put the match away.

“[Cunningham’s] a great jumper. We’d heard that coming in,” Great Bridge coach Dave Albaugh said. “The thing that impressed me most is he’s a solid all-around player. He doesn’t need a perfect set to make a swing. He has great range in his swing. He doesn’t have to swing where his body’s facing, which makes it very difficult to defend. He passes the ball well. He has a great floating serve from the line … He was on the end line and got a free ball for an ace, and he was on the end line for the end, which served a ball that forced us to go to a zone. So, in the long run, he probably made the last two plays of the game even though he wasn’t on the front line, which is what he’s known for.”

Cosby handed Great Bridge its first loss of the season and will face well-known foe Clover Hill for the state championship Friday night at 8 p.m.

The Titans again did a great job distributing their offense. Cunningham led the way with 27 kills followed by Ben Morrison with 16 kills, four digs and one block, Cameron Vaile with seven kills and four blocks, Zackon with six kills, 16 assists and two blocks, Helderman with 17 assists, eight digs and five kills, and Will Vacca with seven digs.